Government's silence on a probe into dodgy financial centres has been slammed by Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons.

And he's called on Government and Finance Minister Eugene Cox to start telling the businesses and people of Bermuda how the Island stands in the face of a three-pronged attack on offshore jurisdictions.

Dr. Gibbons warned: "It's distressing the Minister of Finance hasn't waded into this.'' Dr. Gibbons said probes by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and others were a potential threat.

And he took a swipe at a trip to the OECD's Paris headquarters by Premier Jennifer Smith and Mr. Cox earlier this year.

Dr. Gibbons said: "This will require a lot of effort -- not just a photo opportunity in front of the OECD's offices.'' And he warned: "This could potentially affect confidence among both members of the public and the business sector.

"Transparency and accountability were the watchwords of the PLP election platform -- but we've seen anything but that.'' Dr. Gibbons went on the attack after UK Government insiders claimed Bermuda was already on a hitlist drawn up by the OECD.

A spokesman for the OECD stayed tight-lipped over the claim -- but signalled Bermuda could well be in trouble as a "predatory tax'' jurisdiction.

Mr. Cox has not returned calls from The Royal Gazette .

Dr. Gibbons said: "The answer to that is we are certainly aware that we're under suspicion.'' And he admitted: "Certainly in a large and bureaucratic entity like the OECD, there probably are certain groups which have made their minds up.'' The OECD spokesman said the nearly-30 nation body's thrust was to see if people were being enticed to particular jurisdictions "for reasons not justified by the local economy of the jurisdictions concerned''.

But Dr. Gibbons insisted Bermuda's claim that -- because it imposed the same taxes on the international sector as the domestic one -- it was a valid one and the Island deserved to keep off the hitlist.

He said: "We have been reasonably successful so far, not only in making a written case and in some of the lobbying we did manage to change the nature of the process.'' But he added in the end, it's going to come down to whether the Mr. Cox can effectively present Bermuda's case as to why it should stay off the hitlist.

A right to know: Grant Gibbons