Michael Adkins of Collas Day
BANKS in Guernsey should protect themselves when reporting suspected money launderers to financial service authorities, a local lawyer has warned.
Michael Adkins (pictured), senior associate at Collas Day, gives the advice in an article for the International Law Office.
He writes that in the light of the implications of a Court of Appeal decision in the case of Shah v. HSBC, banks must be careful to keep meticulous documentation if they have to report a client for suspected money laundering.
Mr Shah, a businessman with interests in Zimbabwe, brought a case against HSBC in which he claimed it breached its duties when it delayed payments from his account and notified the authorities that they suspected him of money laundering.
He accused the bank of acting ‘irrationally and with negligently self-induced or mistaken suspicion’.
- Read the full story in the Guernsey Press. See below for subscription details.
Article posted on 9th July, 2010 - 2.30pm
24 Article Comments
Well Collas Day man, I went to a different presentation and they said the Shah case is irrelevant in Guernsey. Our law gives absolute protection for a disclosure unlike the UK where the Shah case was. Scare tactics?
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can’t comment on the relevance of the case in Guernsey- but if you read the story, It doesn’t actually refer to Channel Island practise. It was reported in “International Law Office”. The clue is in the title.
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No matter where, no matter when, just remember kids,
“BANKS in Guernsey should protect themselves when reporting suspected money launderers to financial service authorities”
Don’t breathe a word. It seems easier, doesn’t it?
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ha ha- whoops- monday morning head on perhaps!
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Arnald
It would be easier to simply report everybody wouldn’t it? We all know the only reason anyone has an account over here is for tax evasion purposes, if we report them all then the authorities could decide who they wished to pursue, whilst the whole system ground to a halt, therefore ruining the reputation and future of our industry.
That’s the ultimate goal isn’t it?
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If automatic tax information exchange were implemented do you think that our industry would grind to a halt?
Does that mean you would rather criminals get away with ‘it’, rather than stop them?
Looks like it.
You lose.
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Phil
I certainly do not have a bank account over here for tax evasion! Some of us were born here and are really fed up with comments made by people like yourself. Just remember the biggest money laundering activities take place in the UK and USA
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Mike
Tilt at your windmills my way. Phil is a tax dodger apologist. I am not.
I think you will find that our ’sophisticated’ industry is totally absorbed in de facto evasion. It may be legal, but ethically unsound.
Tough for the locals that get tarred with the same brush, but you vote in the charlatans that support secrecy legislation.
Yes, the US and the UK are far worse.
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Arnald
and you don’t vote them in!
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Arnald
You’re the self-proclaimed victor once again (quelle surprise!!). I don’t want my financial affairs open to all and sundry via automatic tax information exchange thanks very much. We’re all entitled to some degree of privacy (what you would call secrecy no doubt). There will always be those who evade tax, and naturally some (I would suggest a very small amount) of that type of business will end up here. As for you calling perfectly legitimate avoidance “de facto evasion”, it just about sums you up.
As you say, the UK and US are far worse, so why don’t you and your buddy Murphy concentrate on sorting them out instead?
Are you still planning to stand in the next election?
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Mike
No.
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go Arnald!!
sorry, that’s the best i can do at this moment, but i believe absolutley that this island’s wealth is built principally on tax avoidance and evasion (split hairs mr tax accountant?). we mostly all experience a very good standard of living as a result. i just wish more people were willing to admit to that and also admit to not caring – at least they would be honest. it’s the endless worm crawling spin by industry and media apologists that fuel my disdain.
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@ Blah, I have no problem with an industry built upon legal tax avoidance. Arnald finds it morally wrong, I (and most others, it seems) don’t.
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Arnald
If you didn’t vote then you should not complain about the deputies.
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Phil
You still obviously have no idea of what you are talking about, or why. Just blindly defending a position that you have decided to take because ‘everyone else here is’.
Greg
Morality would imply a religious dimension. I oppose tax abuse from a purely human persepctive. Tax ‘competition’ is a race to the bottom. It undermines development, democracy and decency.
It is lunacy.
We can do better than that with our ‘expertise’. It is entirely possible to run ethical business to enable global management for multinats. It shouldn’t be about ‘tax planning’.
It is proving highly inefficient, or hadn’t you noticed the problems around you? All caused by squalid practice.
We, as in Guernsey – through GuernseyFinance and Trott – revel in this practice.
As ‘blah’ says, at least be honest that we are supporters of dirt, instead of dressing it up as something virtuous.
You are another, Greg, that hides behind an imposed ignorance to suit your requirements. It is not a reality, just a front.
You should open your eyes and maybe read a bit more. It can be enlightening to find out you’re wrong!
In the meantime, you remain easy to scorn.
Which can be fun when I have the time.
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Greg
I think you would be surprised at just how many do find it morally wrong, but it is like Blah says, people not caring,
Arnald does care and many do agree with him its just they dont care enough to voice their opinions,
Maybe you dont have a problem with it because you do very nicely from it, would you feel the same if you had to suffer because of it in one way or another? would you still think it morally right?
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So arnald, bcb and blah – should no industry be here?
Specsavers should go as it has an unfair advantage because Guernsey is a low tax jurisdiction? Right?
What about Aquastar? Or any other small company that exports.
Should we all castigate ourselves when we fill our cars up in Guernsey and not Norway?
Get real – its a tough world out there – and if we aren’t competetive (within the law) we’ll all be b*ggered.
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Arnald
You’re obviously right again, I began working in the finance industry in the late ’80s but have absolutely no idea of what I’m talking about.
How long did you work in the industry for? And why did you leave? Sorry, I forgot you’re not allowed to talk about that are you?
You’re unbelievably judgmental (with the emphasis on the mental) when it comes to condemning Guernsey’s tax set up, wouldn’t everybody be better off (you included) if you moved to a high tax jurisdiction where you had plenty of like minded people to mix with?
Carry on pouring scorn upon the people that pay you, the same people that you would like to see out of a job.
Are you standing as a deputy in the next election or not? I really hope you do, it’ll be great fun at the hustings.
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Phil, you bleated this:
“I don’t want my financial affairs open to all and sundry via automatic tax information exchange thanks very much. ”
Therefore you do not know what you are talking about.
If you are as clueless on such a fundamental point of transparency as you publically prove you are, how must your clients be serviced?
Oh dear.
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Finance’s ability to polish the t*rd that is tax evasion is almost as annoying as Arnald banging on about it on these comments boards.
Seriously. Arnald. Get off your butt, away from your computer and PUT up (by actually doing something constructive to address the appalling situation we’ve gotten ourselves into, but now depend on. Fact) or SHUT up.
I admired your stance at first, but you churning out the same ol’ rhetoric for the sake of it is just boring us all to tears, and achieves absolutely eff all.
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Hey Scarlett
OK! Fact!
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Arnald
I don’t bleat old chap, I leave that to the likes of you and Murphy.
I don’t see your point re automatic tax information exchange, unless you are suggesting that it wouldn’t mean “all and sundry” having access to information. If that IS your point then I don’t accept it I’m afraid. That kind of information is easily accessible to people who know how.
My clients are more than happy thanks very much, probably because they’re avoiding so much tax.
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Arnald,
The entire global financial system is a con game, from the reserve currency system to unfunded public pension provision to social security to the fractional reserve system of banking. Unless you are going to go back to the barter system (with real goods and not paper money) you are a rank hypocrite.
As it’s a global con game, what’s wrong with what goes on here? It’s a necessary part of the system.
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cynic – ‘what’s wrong with what goes on here’ is that, as you readily admit, it’s a con. whether world wide, or just an island disease, if its a con, it’s a con, and therefore wrong. maybe some of us tilt at windmills but, just because you believe it’s a ‘necessary part’ doesn’t mean the small boy should not point out the naked emperor. he’s right, the crowd are deceived or morally without courage. but what we will all do is accept the necessity of financial immorality and greed and then turn and blame all society’s ills on the poorest sections of our sociey – tax avoiders are untouchable, benefit claimants are cannon fodder. humbug and hypocricy. and you wonder why moat got 30,000 facebook hits from the disenfranchised.
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