Offshore centres: what we suspected

THE ALCHEMIST

Some years ago, as a junior court reporter, a particular line of cross-questioning of a security agent by counsel defending a political dissident made a lasting impact.

Asked repeatedly by the barrister under which legal statute the agent had detained, questioned and assaulted the man, he conceded: “We don’t work under any statutes.” The response from the barrister made political history, and won the case. “That,” he said, “is what we have always suspected.” A similar response is likely to meet a study published by a respected Australian academic on the myths and legends propagated against offshore centres, which now, given the onslaught by hostile onshore hubs, describe themselves as International Financial Centres (IFCs). The research by Prof Jason Sh...