UK defends tax havens at anti-corruption summit

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed progress on pursuing corrupt individuals at an international summit on Thursday, but rejected accusations he had failed to deliver transparency on Britain’s overseas tax havens.

More than 40 countries signed a declaration to “pursue and punish” those who perpetrate or facilitate corruption, and individual nations agreed a range of initiatives to open up anonymous company ownership and recover stolen assets.

“Today we have seen the world unite against a shared enemy. Countries have gone further than ever before in condemning corruption and pledging to drive it out,” Mr Cameron said.

The meeting, which included the leaders of Nigeria, Afghanistan, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as well as US secretary of state John Kerry, was held amid outrage over the revelations in the Panama Papers. The leak of 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed how global elites use anonymous companies, often incorporated in offshore hubs, to move their money around without being detected.

Mr Cameron announced that Nigeria, France, the Netherlands, Afghanistan and Kenya would, like Britain, be creating public registers of who ultimately owns shell companies.

France goes the farthest, including trusts as well as companies. Six other countries — Australia, Georgia, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway —- pledged to work towards a register.

Campaigners hailed the move as significant progress, but expressed disappointment that it was not extended to Britain’s overseas territories.

In his closing remarks, Mr Cameron defended British financial hubs such as the Cayman Islands, Jersey and Isle of Man, saying they had made “exemplary” progress on transparency.

Mr Cameron conceded that “we should keep on going towards that gold standard” of full public access to company information. But he accused campaigners of “picking on small islands”.