UK properties held by offshore firms used in global corruption, say police

March 3, 2015, 4:01 pm

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Anti-corruption groups and Met detectives say £180m worth of real estate is under investigation as being used in money laundering and stolen capital

Hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of UK properties held in secretive offshore companies have been used to launder the proceeds of international corruption, Scotland Yard investigators suspect.

The Metropolitan police have revealed that more than £180m of British property has been put under criminal investigation in the last decade as the likely proceeds of corruption. Detectives have warned it is the tip of the iceberg.

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Response: Well-run tax havens help, not hinder, the global economy

January 17, 2011, 11:59 pm

≫ Next: Jersey: Haut de la Garenne children's home abuse scandal ends with one last conviction

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Jersey is well regulated, has no secrecy laws, and is key to London retaining its lead in finance

Nicholas Shaxson says: "Nobody agrees what a tax haven is. The term is a bit of a misnomer, for these places don't just offer an escape from tax. They offer secrecy, in various forms, combined with varying degrees of refusal to co-operate with other jurisdictions in exchanging information." (The truth about tax havens, 8 January; Spider's web: The secret history of Britain's treasure islands, 10 January).

What international finance centres have to offer, however, is rather more prosaic than Shaxson might suppose. Jersey, for example, offers a stable political and fiscal environment along with strong, internationally recognised regulation and financial expertise. Jersey has no secrecy laws but respects client confidentiality. Furthermore, Jersey is a co-operative jurisdiction which has signed 20 tax information exchange agreements and has been placed on the OECD's list of jurisdictions – along with the US, UK, France and Germany – "that have substantially implemented internationally agreed tax standards".

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Jersey: Haut de la Garenne children's home abuse scandal ends with one last conviction

January 7, 2011, 12:34 am

≫ Next: Elisabeth Beresford obituary

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Three-year probe ends in jail sentences for 'bullying' couple

A long-running child abuse investigation that brought turmoil to the island of Jersey has finally ended with the conviction of two former children's home workers.

Morag Jordan and her husband Anthony were jailed for a series of assaults they inflicted on children at the Haut de la Garenne home over a period of more than 10 years in the 1970s and 80s. Five others - not all of them connected to the home - had previously been convicted of a number of sexual assaults as a result of the investigation, and received sentences of up to 15 years in jail.

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Elisabeth Beresford obituary

December 26, 2010, 10:18 am

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Prolific writer who enjoyed her greatest success with the recycling Wombles

Elisabeth Beresford, who has died aged 84, enjoyed her greatest success with the creation of the Wombles. The family motto of the colourful underground creatures – "making good use of bad rubbish" – sprang from a concern of the writer's that chimed with the growing ecological awareness of the next four decades. Famously, the inspiration for the figures came on a Boxing Day walk on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, during which her daughter, Kate, misnamed it Wombledon Common.

As elsewhere with Beresford's work, the point of departure was real – here, the place and the characters, largely drawn from uncles, grandparents, siblings and her children: Marcus, her son, genial and interested in food, inspired Orinoco; Kate inspired Bungo, a strong character in the books, though not in the films.

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The truth about tax havens

January 7, 2011, 11:30 pm

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What do we really know about tax havens? In an extract from his new book, Nicholas Shaxson explains how they work and why they are so rife with secrecy, corruption and intimidation

In 2009 I met a former private banker, Beth Krall, to explore a question that had been nagging me: how do bankers who shelter the wealth of gangsters and corrupt politicians justify what they do? We met one Sunday in Washington DC. She had left private banking and joined the non-governmental sector. Dressed in a striking black-and-white coat, she still looked very much the stylish international financier. Aged 47, and with nearly 24 years in the banking business, Krall (not her real name) was still coming to terms with her past life.

Krall's last offshore posting was in the Bahamas, an island archipelago with over 300,000 residents that has been an important offshore centre since the golden age of American organised crime. A few months earlier, a practitioner in the Caymans had warned me to watch out for my personal safety if I went "asking all these questions" in the Bahamas. Krall said she was unsure what might happen to her if she went back, as she was partly breaking the private bankers' code of silence. "I don't want to have concrete shoes put on me," she said without smiling. One reason for her fear was something that had angered her in the first place: so many of the people she dealt with were powerful members of society in their home countries.

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Jersey killings: Stab victims were of Polish descent

August 15, 2011, 3:04 am

≫ Next: Man admits Jersey care home abuse

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30-year-old man held at hospital in St Helier after deaths of six victims believed to be from two families

Three children and three adults killed in a knife attack in Jersey on Sunday were all of Polish descent, it has been reported.

The victims were said to come from two families. In one family the mother, a six-year-old girl, a boy of 18 months, and the mother's father died, Sky News reported, citing the Polish embassy as its source. They were said to be Polish citizens.

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Man admits Jersey care home abuse

May 12, 2009, 3:59 am

≫ Next: Jersey murder trial begins: Damian Rzeszowski accused of killing six

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Michael Aubin, 46, pleads guilty to abusing boys at the Haut de la Garenne care home during the 1970s

A man today admitted sexually abusing young boys at the Haut de la Garenne care home in Jersey during the 1970s.

Michael Aubin was due to be the first person to stand trial following a wide-ranging police investigation into historic child abuse on the island.

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Jersey murder trial begins: Damian Rzeszowski accused of killing six

August 13, 2012, 12:30 pm

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Rzeszowski stabbed his wife, daughter, son, father-in-law and two others to death because his marriage had failed, court hears

A man killed six people, including his wife and their two young children, in a savage knife attack on the island of Jersey because he could not face the break-up of his marriage, his trial has heard.

Damian Rzeszowski, a builder, struck as his wife, Izabela, was playing with the youngsters and a friend's daughter in the living room of their flat, the court heard.

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Crackdown on Channel Islands VAT loophole

August 15, 2009, 4:01 pm

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Leaked Treasury letter deems tax dodge abusive

Online retailers using a Channel Islands VAT loophole as a way of dodging millions of pounds of tax on the sale of CDs and DVDs are facing a crackdown, according to a leaked Treasury letter.

The move could have dramatic consequences for one of the fastest-growing divisions within HMV as well as potentially severing lucrative tie-ups between big-name retailers - Amazon, Tesco, WH Smith, Asda, Argos, and Woolworths.co.uk among them - and low-profile offshore distribution specialists.

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Drug smuggler Curtis Warren ordered to pay £198m by Jersey court

November 5, 2013, 1:55 pm

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Former Liverpool bouncer, who is only drug smuggler on Sunday Times Rich List, given Europe's biggest confiscation order

A Jersey court has ordered Curtis Warren to pay £198m after the drug dealer failed to prove he had not earned that sum in a lifetime of high-level criminality.

Warren, a 50-year-old former bouncer from Liverpool famed as the only drug smuggler to make it on to the Sunday Times Rich List, will be handed a default sentence of 10 years unless he surrenders the whole amount in the next 28 days.

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Sark tensions 'harming island's future' says report

January 15, 2014, 4:05 pm

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Justice committee says divisions between new parliament and Barclay brothers is harming stability of Sark

The tiny island of Sark, car-free and verdant, feels like it ought to be a haven of tranquillity and prosperity. But tensions between the island's fledgling parliament and the wealthy owners of the Telegraph Media Group, the Barclay brothers, may be harming Sark's future, an influential House of Commons committee is warning on Thursday.

Five years after feudalism was banished and the island's first democratic elections held, the justice committee has produced a report claiming that divisions between the new parliament and Sir David and Sir Frederick , who have a gothic mansion on the neighbouring island of Brecqhou, are threatening the stability of Sark.

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Gress Beach cordoned off after suspected unexploded ordnance found

February 9, 2014, 10:24 am

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Rusting explosive device on Isle of Lewis beach discovered day after suspected mortar bomb is disposed of on Norfolk beach

A beach has been cordoned off after the discovery of a rusting explosive device.

The historic item was washed up on Gress Beach on the Isle of Lewis on Sunday morning.

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George Osborne's budget support offer turns into right royal dig at Ed Miliband

March 19, 2014, 11:02 am

≫ Next: Offshore tax dealings: celebrities and sportsmen in leaked Jersey files

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Chancellor, who read history at Oxford, uses tale of King John and Magna Carta signing to mock Labour leader

Nice one, chancellor. In offering budget support for celebrations to mark 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta, the former Oxford history student could not resist a passing prod at Ed Miliband, who only read philosophy, politics and economics.

"King John's humbling, centuries ago seems unimaginably distant. A weak leader (pause) who had risen to the top (pause) after betraying his brother (pause) compelled by a gang of unruly barons to sign on the dotted line," said George Osborne, before concluding that today's generation should learn the lessons of 1215. After a joke-drought budget, coalition MPs laughed gratefully. But is the quip true?

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Offshore tax dealings: celebrities and sportsmen in leaked Jersey files

July 9, 2014, 7:46 am

≫ Next: Commonwealth Games feel like a home games for seven home nations

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Leaked records held with Kleinwort Benson reveal the range of prominent individuals involved in offshoring

• Top Tory has family link with offshore banker who gave £800k
• Offshore secrets of the UK's wealthy political donors

The Guardian has revealed the identities of celebrities and aristocrats – including Mel Gibson and Eddie Jordan – who have had offshore dealings, as controversy grows over the Jersey links of the newly-appointed financial services minister Andrea Leadsom.

Following Wednesday's disclosure that the Conservatives have received £816,000 in offshore donations from Leadsom's Channel Islands-based brother-in-law, the Labour MP Paul Farrelly, who campaigns on tax issues, has called for the cabinet secretary to step in.

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Commonwealth Games feel like a home games for seven home nations

July 27, 2014, 8:18 am

≫ Next: Young girl rescued in Jersey after drifting out to sea on bodyboard

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Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey fans cheer on local heroes as Glasgow welcomes seven teams from British Isles

Peter Kennaugh won gold for Great Britain at the London Olympics in the cycling team pursuit, but for the 25-year-old, Saturday's silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow still felt "pretty special".

Kennaugh rides for Team Sky and, as the current British road race champion, might have felt almost as aggrieved as Sir Bradley Wiggins at being excluded from this year's Tour de France squad. Sky's loss, however, is the Isle of Man's gain – the 25-year-old hails from Douglas, and his 40km points race Commonwealth medal took the total won by the island since its 1958 Games debut to 11.

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Young girl rescued in Jersey after drifting out to sea on bodyboard

August 11, 2014, 7:44 am

≫ Next: Thai police focus on migrant workers in search for killer of British tourists

≪ Previous: Commonwealth Games feel like a home games for seven home nations

Four-year-old had been playing on the shoreline at Rozel Bay before her mother realised she was a 'speck on the horizon'

A four-year-old girl has been rescued after drifting half a mile out to sea on her bodyboard.

Jemima Chambers was playing in the shallows during a family holiday on Jersey when she floated off. The girl's mother, Rebecca Chambers, said she was a "speck" way out to sea when she realised what had happened. Chambers jumped on to the back of a jetski and chased after the little girl. She was amazed to find when she got to the board that Jemima was lying contented and relaxed on the board with no idea of the panic she had been causing. She was brought back to shore unharmed.

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Thai police focus on migrant workers in search for killer of British tourists

September 16, 2014, 12:18 am

≫ Next: HSBC may shut Jersey accounts of UK residents

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Officers release images from CCTV footage in hunt for person who murdered David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on Koh Tao

Police in Thailand say they are focusing on migrant workers in the hunt for the person responsible for the murder of a British man and woman on the island of Koh Tao.

The bodies of David Miller, 24, from Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, were discovered semi-naked on a beach at the popular divers' destination on Monday. A bloodstained hoe, believed to be the murder weapon, was found nearby.

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HSBC may shut Jersey accounts of UK residents

March 17, 2015, 5:48 am

≫ Next: Police raid Channel Islands GP surgery after patient deaths

≪ Previous: Thai police focus on migrant workers in search for killer of British tourists

Bank asks clients to prove ID in attempt to avoid further accusations of helping tax avoidance after scandal involving its Swiss arm

HSBC is contacting thousands of holders of Jersey accounts who live in the UK as part of efforts to avoid accusations it is helping to shelter money from tax authorities.

Britain’s biggest bank has written to customers who hold Jersey accounts to ask them to take proof of identity to a branch on the island or risk having their accounts closed.

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Police raid Channel Islands GP surgery after patient deaths

April 3, 2015, 12:43 am

≫ Next: 16 of top 50 European hedge funds donate more than £6.5m to Tories

≪ Previous: HSBC may shut Jersey accounts of UK residents

Search warrants served following concerns about the deaths of four patients on Alderney

Police have raided a doctors’ surgery after concersns were raised about the deaths of four patients in the Channel Islands.

Ten officers from Guernsey police served search warrants at both the Eagle Medical Practice and a private residential address on the island of Alderney on Thursday after the force was alerted by the health and social services department (HSSD).

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16 of top 50 European hedge funds donate more than £6.5m to Tories

April 16, 2015, 2:48 am

≫ Next: Inside the secret world of tax havens – in pictures

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All of the firms have established funds based in offshore tax havens such as Cayman Islands and Jersey, analysis reveals

Sixteen of the top 50 European hedge funds or their executives have donated more than £6.5m to the Conservatives, according to a new analysis of data.

All of the firms have established funds which have been based in offshore tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and Jersey.

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