The Jersey Evening Post has given us one of the clearest insights we could ask for on the role of KPMG in perpetuating tax haven abuse. As they note:

A tax expert has urged Jersey and Guernsey not to accept the same tax deal with the UK that the Isle of Man signed up to this week.

John Riva of KPMG has warned against the adoption of an automatic exchange of tax information on the same terms as the other Crown dependency.

As they also note:

The UK government wants all three territories to sign up to a US-style Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act agreement being promoted as a new international standard.

The UK and Isle of Man's version of Fatca will, like the US rules, allow for the sharing of information across borders.

As the full article makes clear, Riva is using some age old arguments (all fatuous and disingenuous) to support continuing tax haven abuse that defends tax abusers from enquiry. So he argues for no reform at all unless it applies to all tax havens at once, an argument akin to arguing no murderer be charged unless all are at the same time. And he argues Jersey could not harbour tax abuse anyway as it has had anti-money laundering rules for 14 years. But then so too has the Isle of Man and a UK tax evader has just been convicted for recent abuse of its corporate system, leaving me ( yet again) bemused by the sheer naivety of this claim.

And Riva makes clear he wants Jersey to have nothing to do with helping the UK recover tax owing to it through any former of disclosure scheme.

In the process he reveals where he, his firm and no doubt the Big 4 are on tax havens and exposing tax abuse. He wants to keep tax haven status. He opposes automatic information exchange which is the surest way to forever end offshore tax abuse. And he opposes disclosure regimes that rightly or wrongly help people put their affairs in good order.

This is what we need to know about the reality of the Big 4: they are good friends of tax abusers because they profit from them. And that strongly supports the case for barring them from public sector supply in the UK. The two roles are wholly incompatible. We have have to thank Riva for making that clear.