THE IRS DIDN'T GO TO NEVIS FOR FUN AND SUN

That little photo you might have seen, about a State Department-escorted trip by representatives of the Internal Revenue Service to the Caribbean island of Nevis, which included a meeting with its Premier, MARK BRANTLEY, wasn't exactly a courtesy visit. Call it a candid exchange of views, but understand that Nevis' intentionally anonymous corporate shareholder laws bedevil even the most dedicated IRS Criminal Investigator. This clever nature of the island's corporation structure has been a thorn in the side of taxmen from the US and UK for decades, and there are no signs that it will change in the future, because it is extremely lucrative for its residents and government.

If you have read any of the articles about how the UK pointedly ignores its career nominee expats, you may have read about British citizen SARAH PETRE MEARS in the Guardian. Miss Mears reportedly was a director of over 1200 offshore companies, while residing in obscurity in Nevis' garden setting, blissfully signing scores of corporate documents delivered by courier from London financial service firms, without having read any of them, and collecting handsome income from her titular roles, in the process, What's wrong with this picture?

We reached out to her this week for comment, and she declared that she is no longer involved in that sordid director business, where nominees front for affluent Brits who choose an opaque company, immediately raising questions of tax evasion and/or money laundering. Our investigation of Miss Mears revealed that she also managed a restaurant and estate for British businessman Tim Roberts, but is no longer employed by him, and did not serve as his director, according to him . He advises that she is working for a company called SUNLINC, where we found her, under the name Sarah Petre, at a "destination management company." What that entails we leave to the reader's imagination.

If individuals whose ministerial functions facilitate financial crime, in any form, are not held to account for the willful blindness, then the Nevis system of concealing beneficial ownership will continue to afford those with substantial assets a convenient venue to deny the tax collector his due. The IRS and Inland Revenue should look into into all US and UK nationals that happen to have any connection with Nevis-domiciled companies.