Financial Transparency Coalition

In Treasure Islands I briefly mention Sir John Cowperthwaite, Hong Kong's Financial Sectetary from 1961-1971, who had such stridently anti-government views that he banned the publication of official statistics because they would, he said, attract too much attention from civil servants. Such is the anti-government, anti-society worldview that I have so often encountered offshore. I also quote Jack Blum, a top US criminal investigator, who described Hong Kong as an "anything-goes, no-regulation world . . corporations doing business in China set up Hong Kong companies with secret shareholdings . . today Hong Kong is where most of the corruption in...

At the root of the public fascination with the fate of Michael Bryant is a question that lies at the heart of democracy: Do the rich and powerful get special treatment?

GENEVA — Liechtenstein's reigning prince has angered German Jews by invoking the Holocaust to defend his country's banking secrecy laws, drawing sharp reactions Monday.