UK PM signals tax haven clampdown
Just as the Cayman Islands government was feeling confident that its relationship with the British government was better than ever and the UK was beginning to understand and accept the role of the offshore financial sector, the new prime minister, Theresa May, is believed to have ordered a clampdown on the use of offshore tax havens in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the scandal surrounding the collapse of a leading high street store in Britain.
According to British press reports, officials from the new No 10 policy unit have been told to crackdown on tax avoidance like the scheme exposed in the British Home Stores fiasco.
The former owner of the BHS chain, Sir Philip Green, and his family have been accused of plundering BHS using a complex web of offshore companies, set up in tax havens in his wife’s name, to reduce tax bills and reducing corporate transparency.
May has reportedly said that, as part of her reform of capitalism, she wants Whitehall officials to draw up plans to tackle abuses of the tax system in time for the Conservative Party conference in October. The PM has reportedly told aides she was “determined to curb irresponsible and reckless behaviour by business bosses”.
