Secrets Out

The tax haven scandal currently involving more than 1,000 Europeans, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, and billions of dollars in foregone tax revenue should be of more than passing interest to the governments of Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

Just last week, Germany’s finance minister, invariably described as the no- nonsense Peer Steinbrueck, stated at a EU finance ministers meeting that once the EU had dealt with the non- cooperative tax havens in Europe, it would invariably need to turn its attention to tax havens further afield including Macau, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Apart from disagreeing strongly with being designated as tax havens as opposed to low tax jurisdictions with strong banking secrecy laws, these Asian banking centers need to be concerned with the techniques the BND recently used to address German government concerns regarding what it considers Liechtenstein’s tax haven status and the impact it was having on Germany’s treasury.

Click here for complete article by Sam Porteous, TheStandard.com.hk

March 17, 2008 | Filed Under tax havens 

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