UK Gov defies Parliament to defend BOT tax haven corruption

[Ghost Dog]

The (UK) government has been accused of defying parliament by delaying plans to require British tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands to bring in public registers that reveal the true identity of owners of companies sheltering assets.

Foreign Office ministers have caved in after a rebellion in the British overseas territories (BOTs), including threats to take the government to court or even to secede from the UK. The British-administered tax shelters have always been seen as a blight on the Conservative claim to be fighting the multibillion-pound corruption industry.

The Foreign Office told the overseas territories that they did not need to introduce compulsory public registers until 2023 – three years after the date MPs had thought they had set by law in a fractious debate last May... "It as if the government has become the Department for Procrastination. It means the British overseas territories remain Britain’s achilles heel when it comes to financial corruption, money laundering and dodgy money.” ...

... "This takes (the government's) contempt for parliament to a new low.” ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/11/mps-attack-ministers-over-delay-to-tax-havens-public-registers

... Surely one unspoken high priority goal of the leadership of the brexit side of the tory party and allies is to take some EU pressure off these corrupt and corrupting tax-haven BOTs, for obvious reasons. Please note, btw, that where France, Portugal and Spain have Outermost Regions of the EU, the UK insists on its City of London-affiliated outlaw BOTs which, except Gibraltar, are outside the EU.