Congress investigators head to Cayman tax haven

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional investigators will travel to the Cayman Islands next week to look into U.S. companies operating offshore as governments worldwide take a tougher stance on tax dodgers.

"Our hope in sending GAO investigators to the Caymans is to get some answers about ... what's really happening with U.S. companies going offshore," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said in a statement.

The GAO, or Government Accountability Office, is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

A Cayman government statement said GAO officials would meet with Cayman officials for briefings to "address any misperceptions about the role of Cayman's financial services sector relative to U.S. business interests."

For many years, critics of the Cayman Islands and other tax havens have related tales of office buildings plastered with bronze plaques for phantom shell companies set up to hide the assets of corporations and the rich from tax authorities.

Baucus specifically said an office building called Ugland House in the capital of George Town "has been the source of much debate on the Senate floor over the past few years."

The five-story building on a palm tree-lined boulevard has reportedly been the official address of thousands of shell companies, including units of major U.S. corporations.

"Government understands that the GAO will also meet with Maples and Calder, the tenant of Ugland House," the Cayman statement said. Maples & Calder is an international law firm.  Continued...