Bermuda was among offshore jurisdictions that came under the spotlight in an undercover probe by a charity into the movement of suspect funds into the US.

An investigator from charity Global Witness, backed by Christian Aid, posed as the representative of a foreign government minister to visit more than a dozen law firms in New York to ask how to anonymously move large sums of money.

The investigation, aired on the 60 Minutes programme, found that in many cases, lawyers suggested using Bermuda or another British Overseas Territory to set up a company or a trust.

One lawyer and a colleague were filmed suggesting that the made-up government minister use a Cayman Islands firm or a Bermuda trust company and that he set up a bank account in Gibraltar.

The charity’s investigation came ahead of a scheduled anti-corruption summit that Britain is to hold this year.

Rosie Sharpe, of Global Witness, said the programme showed that public registers should be established to show beneficial owners.

Ms Sharpe said that Montserrat is creating a public register of beneficial owners, while Gibraltar was required by European Union law to give access to ownership information to anyone who can show a legitimate interest.

And she claimed: “Company ownership in the other Overseas Territories is still secret.”

Bermuda already has a register of beneficial ownership, available to governments and other overseas agencies investigating potential crimes, but the list is made not public.

Joseph Stead, campaigner at British-based Christian Aid, said: “The UK’s Overseas Territories say that their regimes are good enough to stop corruption and tax evasion, but this shocking investigation suggests that’s far from the reality.”

And he added that Britain “must address this problem in the UK’s backyard of the Overseas Territories, as well as the city, if this summit is to be a success and for the UK to have any credibility as a world leader in fighting corruption.”

The meetings with the law firms took place in June 2014, but the results were only aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes last month.

Global Witness added that most of the lawyers requested information about the government minister, who was said to come from West Africa, an area prone to government corruption, and his source of funds.

One refused to provide assistance during the meeting itself, and another later sent an e-mail to say he could not work with the investigator.

The charity added that none of the lawyers involved broke the law or agreed to take on the investigator as a client.