David Cameron was today caught describing Nigeria to the Queen as ‘fantastically corrupt’. But after the Panama Papers leak, the Prime Minister may want to choose his words more carefully: after all, that accolade could easily belong closer to home.
Your average dodgy Nigerian oil baron and big-time British fraudster have much in common; a shared love of champagne, a doctor in Harley Street and… a little company based off-shore in a tax haven whose sole purpose is to hide stolen fortunes. And in most cases, that tax haven is one of ‘ours’ – either a British Overseas Territory or a Crown Dependency.
Half of the companies featured in the Panama Papers were registered in British-administered tax havens. These overseas territories vary in the degree of venality and abuse they accommodate but collectively they are dragging our British brand through the mud. And they all depend on secrecy.
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