Think Again! Bermuda used to be a good privacy jurisdiction in years past. Today Bermuda has been chasing the tourism industry. Every day numerous cruise ships tie up in Bermuda. They have beach front hotels, gambling casinos, diving, fishing etc. The tourism industry employs more people and is more lucrative than the banking industry was so Bermuda gave in to international pressure and eliminated their secrecy and privacy to a very large extent.
Bermuda's has new tight anti-money laundering legislation that is called the Proceeds of Crime Amendment Act 2000, from 1 June, 2001, applies to all banking and financial institutions. With this Act in place, fiscal offenses (think tax related) are now consistent with international anti-money laundering standards and all forms of tax evasion are now a criminal offense in Bermuda. Not good for privacy and opens the door wide for fishing expeditions to get records to see if there has been some tax violation.
The Anti-Terrorism Act enacted in December 2004 "makes it an offense to raise funds for terrorism, to use and possess money or other property for terrorism, and to be involved in any arrangements where money has been made available for terrorism." The problem is this law requires any business to report to the police any activity they deem to be suspect of terrorist involvement. Of course terrorist activity is broadly and loosely defined. Additionally, the courts have been empowered to call for account monitoring, of course without the knowledge of the account holder. The funds and property of suspected terrorists can also be seized and held for up to two years while the investigation proceeds and then forfeited permanently if the investigation results call for it.
Bermuda does not have anonymous bearer share corporations.
We do not advocate the use of Bermuda for anything since privacy and protection is now seriously lacking from this former privacy jurisdiction.
For more information please visit: www.panamalaw.org -- Email us at: panamalegal@hush.com -- or -- Call us at: (507) 6-480-1279
