First Minister promises review of public largesse to secret offshore companies
By Torcuil Crichton
THE Scottish Executive has promised to act against the ownership of large parts of Scotland by estates registered in offshore tax havens following the Scottish Sunday’s revelations that large parts of the country are held by secret companies which help their owners avoid UK taxes.
The revelation that more than a million acres of Scotland is owned by such companies, hiding the identity of their owners, has prompted ministers to look again at the rules on giving public funding to offshore companies.
Reviewing Land Registration Rules
The First Minister, Jack McConnell, has also promised to review land registration rules and move towards compulsory registration if a voluntary scheme does not persuade owners to declare full details.
McConnell is understood to have had discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on land ownership, and deputy rural affairs minister Allan Wilson, responsible for land reform, said yesterday that the issue of who owns Scotland was being reviewed and that funding was being closely monitored.
“We’re in the vanguard of opening up community ownership, so obviously I am sympathetic to making land ownership transparent,” said Wilson. “We will be reviewing the progress in terms of land registration. We want as accurate a register as possible.”
The Role of the Scottish Law Commission
Wilson said he was open to the idea of the review of the Land Registration Act being used to highlight concerns about offshore ownership. The Scottish Law Commission is preparing a technical review of the Land Registration Act; ministers could direct it to highlight concerns about ownership by offshore-registered companies. A land registry review in England and Wales highlighted the danger of anonymous offshore ownership facilitating money laundering.
The Executive last gave serious consideration to the law on offshore ownership and ownership by nominee companies when the Land Reform Bill was introduced in 2001, but ran into the complexities of tax and inheritance laws, reserved to Westminster.
The issue of the millions of pounds of lost revenue has also been flagged up in the Treasury vis-à-vis the English and Welsh land registry review, carried out two years ago.
Concerns Over Public Funds
Concerns over public funds being given to offshore companies have been acknowledged by the Executive, but Wilson defended the forestry grants system, which makes the names of applicants open to the public but allows companies to shield their true ownership.
“We are doing what we can to control this, but we don’t just give people money to put in their Cayman Islands coffers,” said Wilson. “We give grants for public benefit, whether for wildlife conservation, environmental improvement, or greater community access. That is almost as important as timber production. We’re not giving money just to have it filtered offshore.”
Compulsory Land Registration
The issue of offshore ownership was raised by several MSPs on the floor of the parliament last week following the Scottish Sunday investigation. When questioned, Jack McConnell held out the prospect of accelerating the process of compulsory land registration.
At present property is registered when it changes hands, but at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday McConnell said the Executive would consider a voluntary agreement by which people can register land whether it has been sold or not. “At the end of the process, we must consider dealing through a compulsory scheme with the few remaining individuals who have not co-operated,” said McConnell.
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