As the massive data leak once again shone a spotlight on offshore finance centres, Deputy Gavin St Pier spoke to numerous UK media organisations to defend his island.
Although Guernsey has not featured heavily in the papers, he said he felt compelled to speak out against what he described as ‘manufactured’ news.
‘We are not really in the spotlight on this, but the reporting has been so sensational and so inaccurate that we felt it simply did require a challenge,’ he said during an interview with Sky News.
‘We see this very much as part of a very well-planned ongoing political campaign, using stolen data in, or to put in, an agenda which isn’t really a great deal to do with tax, it’s more to do with privacy, and about obtaining public access to private finances,’ he added.
Branding the documents the ‘Stolen Papers’, Deputy St Pier told BBC Radio Five Live’s Wake Up to Money that Guernsey had a well-regulated finance industry that employed 7,000 people.
‘Reporting has been misleading, sensational and simplistic. This is manufactured news. We have nothing to apologise for or be embarrassed about,’ he said.The politician went on to claim
that the release of the papers was timed to strengthen the EU’s position on Brexit talks.
‘The Council for EU Finance Ministers is meeting today in Brussels. They will all come out this afternoon and piously and earnestly say how important it is that the UK cleans up its act with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies,’ he told the BBC.
Jersey’s States, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that they would investigate claims that Apple used Jersey to avoid paying tax on billions of dollars.
