In a six-page article in the FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin last month, the Bureau praised the offshore financial centres of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands for their 'willingness to cooperate with and provide assistance to foreign authorities.'
The article, written by Special Agent Mark Ferbrache, assistant legal attaché based in London, explained that most FBI fraud investigators had tended to view the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as 'loosely regulated tax havens ... which makes the islands the choice of criminals to launder their illegal gains.' But the 1998 Edwards report into the crown dependencies and a survey conducted in 1999 by the FBI itself have changed the FBI's perception of the financial centres.
The FBI review focused on the islands from a law enforcement point of view and praised the "significant contributions" made by the Islands' law enforcement agencies, 'to improve law enforcement cooperation in the global fight against fraud and money laundering. Today, law enforcement agencies in the islands have established informal gateways to share criminal intelligence on a regular basis with the FBI.'
Mr Ferbrache said the FBI has particularly welcomed the role that the islands can now play in international fraud investigations. He stated: 'The consensus of these reviews found that the islands have a well-regulated financial industry, money laundering legislation in place and a demonstrated willingness to co-operate with and provide assistance to foreign authorities.'
The article concludes by describing the attitude of the islands as "robust" in the international fight against crime and asserts: 'For years authorities have agreed with the widely-held notion that these areas are maverick centres of thinly regulated financial activity attracting money launderers and impenetrable by law enforcement. Fortunately,' wrote Mr Ferbrache, 'the two reports by outside evaluators have dispelled this long-standing myth.'
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