Although not part of the slated debate in the US Congress, the hot topic of cracking down on `corporate inversions' was tossed around in bipartisan bickering between Democrat and Republican congressmen on Friday.

The topic - with a focus on Bermuda as the offshore jurisdiction attracting a number of high-profile US companies - has been a frequent subject in the political dialogue on Capitol Hill and in media reports since February when Connecticut toolmaker Stanley Works announced it would reincorporate on the Island.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the House was looking at a measure that would have boosted taxes on corporate executives, but the Democratic proposal failed by a narrow margin in the Republican-controlled House.

But Democrats nonetheless used the debate as an opportunity to accuse Republicans of skirting "corporate problems like the demise of Enron and the flight of US firms to Bermuda to escape taxes."

House Majority Leader Dick Armey - who earlier this week said the trend for US corporations to move offshore was not unpatriotic and the fault of a tax code in need of overhaul - said Democrats were trying to squeeze a "mean-spirited, nasty little drop of political diatribe" from the Enron debacle.