Bermuda's image as a pre-eminent jurisdiction for international business should not be tarnished by recent bankruptcies such as Global Crossing, said the head of the Chamber of Commerce International Companies Division, David Ezekiel.

Mr. Ezekiel said yesterday: "I don't think that this is a jurisdiction question at all." In the wake of recent and spectacular collapses of Enron and Bermuda-based Global Crossing, Mr. Ezekiel said both companies were SEC listed and that no matter where they were located, reporting of financial statements and auditing of statements were very strict.

He said in the case of Enron there were procedures that had not been followed in terms of accounting and auditing, but said this did not relate to the fact that the company had operations in Bermuda.

Mr. Ezekiel says the rules are in place, it is simply a matter of how closely they are followed.

And he said of Global Crossing's bankruptcy filing this week: "Global Crossing was nothing but commercial failure based on market forces."

Mr. Ezekiel said that because Global Crossing had spent so much money laying communications cable and creating a worldwide infrastructure - combined with the fact that there was a glut of capacity in the sector - the company's debt service became impossible, bringing about the bankruptcy.

Mr. Ezekiel said, "I wouldn't see any taint being attached to Bermuda because of this."

Acting Finance Minister Alex Scott said that the issue of Enron and Global Crossing was definitely weighing on the markets, but said it was still too early to assess the impact on Bermuda's image from the collapses, both which rate among the top five largest insolvencies in the US to date.

Mr. Scott said that one way in which the bankruptcies could impact the Island was through investments in the companies in the US equity markets by the Contributory Pension Fund and the Public Services Superannuation Fund.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "We have looked at the portfolio of companies that appear in the investment ledger for these two funds and both of these companies are absent."

Mr. Scott added that it was impossible to tell how the US would react to Bermuda's role in hosting these companies, but added that the Island is vigilant in policing companies incorporated on the Island.

He gave the recent example of two investment companies that he said had not dotted their "i's" or crossed their "t's" and a bank had picked up on these discrepancies. "We are vigilant," Mr. Scott said.

Fears that other companies could suffer a similar fate to Enron and Global Crossing sent US equity markets tumbling.

Shares in Bermuda-based Tyco International plummeted 20 percent on Tuesday, wiping $16.7 billion of market value off the company.

The stock fared better yesterday trading up approximately five percent, although there were rumours that the company, which is to be split into four independent operations, could be open to a takeover. (See story below).

In a show of confidence in the company yesterday, Tyco International chairman and chief executive officer Dennis Kozlowski, and the company's chief financial officer Mark Swartz, announced their intention to purchase - on the open market and with their own funds - 500,000 shares each of Tyco common stock. At yesterday's value, this is an investment of $17.7 million each.

Mr. Kozlowski also said the window was open for other Tyco officers and directors to purchase shares as well. In making the announcement, Mr. Kozlowski reaffirmed his belief that the company is substantially undervalued by the marketplace, and his complete confidence in the long-term investment value of Tyco shares.

Other Bermuda-based companies that have filed for bankruptcy in recent years include the infamous Iridium LLC in 1999, as well as two other satellite telephone providers ICO Global Communications which filed for bankruptcy in August 1999 and Globalstar which defaulted on $3 billion of debt in January last year.

The parent company of TeleBermuda International, 360Networks, also filed for bankruptcy last year although the company was not incorporated in Bermuda.

Concert, a Bermuda-based joint venture of AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications PLC, was dissolved in October last year with $7 billion of debt.