Member of the house of keys Chis Robertshaw, during an Isle of Man parliamentary debate on 21 November 2017, said a BBC Panorama report on the Paradise Papers was “an example of a scurrilous reporting which brought the notion of investigative journalism into disrepute”.
Fighting back
Chief minister Howard Quayle said in a speech that the Paradise Papers, which were published by prominent media sites throughout the world including the BBC and The Guardian, were “a deliberately orchestrated attack from the international media”.
“Whilst a large part of our diverse economy is not directly affected by the media focus we cannot underestimate the impact it has had on our reputation, and those of other international finance centres around the world.
“Our overall message has been clear and consistent – the Isle of Man is not a place that welcomes those seeking to evade or aggressively avoid taxes,” he said.
Quayle said the Isle of Man had to defend and protect its reputation through engagement with key UK stakeholders and the international community.
During his speech, Quayle referenced the latest OECD report, titled the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Taxes Purposes, in which the Isle of Man had retained its “compliant” rating.
“This makes us one of only six countries to be awarded the top compliant rating during the second round of reviews and we are currently one of only three to have been rated compliant in the first and second rounds of reviews,” Quayle said.
BBC response
A BBC news spokesman responded to the comments made by Quayle in an article published on its website. The spokesperson said there was a clear public interest in publishing the information found in the Paradise Papers.
“The revelations were part of a much wider leak of 13 million documents that have been shared with 100 other news organisations in 67 countries around the world by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,” they said.
