Jersey's Chief Minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, has strongly refuted findings by the BBC's Panorama program concerning alleged banking practice on the island that seeks to circumvent the EU Savings Tax Directive.
The program, aired on September 21, showed a BBC employee posing as a prospective client, interested in investing a fictitious sum of GBP4m with Lloyds TSB Offshore. During secret filming, an employee of Lloyds told the BBC "prospective client" that income earned on deposits made in Jersey is paid to clients via Hong Kong to "get round" the Directive.
"The island’s laws on tax information exchange are clear," said the Minister in a statement. "Jersey has laws in place to prevent its use by those engaging in activities involved with tax evasion, and has always made this clear to the financial institutions operating in the island.”
“The island’s laws comply fully with the international standards of tax information exchange and transparency, a fact which is reflected in Jersey’s inclusion in the OECD list of jurisdictions that have met all such standards."
“Should there be any evidence of a breach of Jersey’s laws or regulations, the relevant authorities will open their own investigation with follow up action as appropriate,” Le Sueur concluded.
Lloyds Banking Group, which is susceptible to increased scrutiny following a GBP17bn bailout by the UK taxpayer, said in a statement:
“Lloyds Banking Group aims to comply at all times with all its obligations under tax law, both within the UK and overseas. We treat very seriously our obligations to comply with all tax legislation … We strongly and categorically refute any allegation of involvement in systematic or deliberate tax evasion.”
The statement goes on to state: "We have been provided with information by Panorama which could suggest serious misconduct by a member of staff in one of our Jersey offices. We take these allegations by Panorama very seriously and a full and comprehensive investigation into this matter is already underway. The member of staff has been suspended pending the outcome of our investigation. If the investigation concludes that serious misconduct has occurred, then the company will take the appropriate disciplinary action.”
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