News about the Cayman Islands in the Foreign Press

Thursday,  June 16, 2005

Turtle on Cayman Islands flag harks back to the 1500s

BOSTON, USA – The Christian Science Monitor Kidspace column reports that curious creatures appear on some national flags. The turtle on the Cayman Islands flag harks back to the 1500s, when Christopher Columbus called these Caribbean islands ‘Las Tortugas’ (‘the turtles’ in Spanish) because of their many sea turtles.

Profits stashed in Cayman Islands accounts

QUEBEC, Canada – According to Macleans, a self-styled knight who was convicted for avoiding paying taxes on $8.4 million in income has resurfaced in British Columbia, where he is reportedly selling clients on a scheme to win millions of dollars in financing for their businesses.

A man known as Sir Daniel Kingsley Lear was convicted in Winnipeg in 2001 of using a pyramid scheme and offshore banks to avoid paying the taxes. According to prosecutors, Lear sold clients on schemes to avoid paying taxes on income. He set up hundreds of accounts in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis to help people eliminate their tax bills.

Lear stashed the profits from his ventures in accounts in the Cayman Islands, the trial heard.

Televangelist set up Cayman corporation

EDMONTON, Canada – According to CounterBias, journalist Bill Sizemore followed televangelist Pat Robertson’s political and economic activities for years. In 1999 he published an article in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reporting that Robertson had signed a development agreement with then Liberian President Charles Taylor, a man frequently criticized by international human rights groups. Robertson established a for-profit corporation known as Freedom Gold, Ltd based in the Cayman Islands, with himself as President and the firm’s only director.

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