FiTi, 10 September 1996. Call to abolish banking secrecy By William Lewis in Cambridge The UK government should take a lead and abolish banking secrecy in its dependent territory offshore centres, a former legal adviser to MI5 and MI6, the British intelligence agencies, said yesterday. Mr David Bickford, the first British intelligence lawyer to speak publicly in the UK, said at a conference in Cambridge, 50 miles north-east of London, that there "appears to be no justification at all for offshore bank secrecy other than to protect the criminal". He said "offshore bank secrecy can and must be abolished" and "the UK should be the first to abolish this secrecy given their control of their dependent territory offshore centres". Mr Bickford, who now runs an international legal consultancy, said "endemic corruption" is caused by offshore secrecy, and it is "difficult to see why it is tolerated by any other than those with an unlawful disposition". He said allowing countries to maintain offshore banking secrecy is "a classic example of the corruptive influence of organised crime". Mr Bickford added that the "justification is put forward at all is an example of the overwhelming subversive corruptive influence of organised crime which has managed to magic a seemingly acceptable position out of the sheer weight of its financial proceeds from narcotics, fraud, extortion and other criminal enterprise". Mr Raymond Kendall, secretary general of Interpol told the 14th International Symposium on Economic Crime that governments should commit more resources and step up co-operation to tackle the growing problem of international corruption. [End]