Austria Slams UK Over 'Tax Haven Hypocrisy'

Austria's finance minister has slammed Britain over its push against tax havens and bank secrecy laws.

Maria Fekter said: "Great Britain has many money laundering centres and tax havens in its immediate legal remit - the Channel Islands Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands.

"These are all hot spots for tax evasion and money laundering."

Ms Fekter would fight transparency "like a lion"

She added: "The G20 never, never accepted the information exchange (for bank accounts) and they never did any step to close the money laundering in all the (Caribbean) islands ... or the US in Delaware."

Ms Fekter made the statements as she arrived in Dublin for a two-day meeting of eurozone finance ministers, where they later formally approved the terms of a Cyprus debt bailout, saying it could now go ahead once cleared by national parliaments.

Earlier, Ms Fekter said she would "fight like a lion" to defend Austria's banking privacy.

"Austria is sticking to bank secrecy. We fight tax evasion and money laundering. I don't expect any uncomfortable questions."

According to an estimate by The Economist magazine, some $3trn (£2trn) has been ploughed in oblique tax haven accounts where investors' identities can remain hidden.

A recent data leak allegedly revealed Caribbean account holders as including British nominee firms, American dentists and the families of dictators.

Austria has vowed to stick to its bank secrecy laws on EU depositors, even though it has come under increasing EU pressure.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne have both pushed for greater transparency among EU and G20 nations.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has also voiced serious concerns over multinational businesses using cross-border structures to reduce corporation tax liabilities.

Isle of Man banks have improved transparency and data exchanging

Australia has already informed large companies that their tax accounts would be made public.

The outburst from the Austrian finance minister comes amid pressure from Germany for Luxembourg, which has become a finance hub for many multinationals, to improve bank transparency.

Luxembourg said it would improve transparency from 2015 and Austria remains the last EU nation to resist greater exchange of financial data.

Meanwhile at the Dublin meeting, Cyprus said it did not want more money from Europe to solve its financial crisis but it will ask for leeway to lessen the burden of measures imposed in exchange for agreed helped.

Cyprus said the bailout cost will jump from 17.5bn to 23bn euros but Luxembourg said it will oppose any increase in the EU & IMF's 10bn-euro contribution.

The Nicosia government said that banks and their depositors would not have to fund the extra 6bn euros needed to prevent the economy's collapse, on top of 17.5bn.

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