Prominent lawyer Phil Perinchief's public branding of Bermuda as a "tax haven'' left the Island's business community incensed.

Bank of Bermuda senior vice president of corporate administration Barry Shailer's strong rejection of the claim which was made at a Chamber of Commerce forum on Friday sparked hearty and prolonged applause.

Independence stalwart Mr. Perinchief took the stage briefly at the forum to controversially remark: "Bermuda is a tax haven. It's also a harmful tax jurisdiction.'' "What we're hearing from some of the powers that be is misleading. Many people are attracted to Bermuda because they avoid tax and indeed may even evade tax.'' He said whether the money attracted to Bermuda was "clean or not'' was not the issue of true concern to global powers.

"That is a misnomer. The issue is where Bermuda is taking the tax dollars from.'' He also said if Bermuda was to win independence it could "link with other independent countries to form a power'' rather than having a voice on the world stage through the "muted and less than honest voice of the British''.

But banker Mr. Shailer said for about 40 years the business community had made a widespread effort to dissolve the view that Bermuda was a tax haven.

"Bermuda has tried strenuously to move away from being branded that way. I disagree with Mr. Perinchief's judgment because Bermuda is more substantial than that and it degrades the whole jurisdiction to say otherwise. "And to say this so publicly is certainly not helpful as we are seeking to establish and maintain our reputation as a financial district of substance.'' Bermuda's regulations do not permit anonymous accounts or bearer shares while the Registrar of Companies and relevant legislation maintained a very careful screening of business coming in to the country, he said.

"It has taken a high level of discipline to try to make sure business we attract is quality and of substance. And yes, that means a fair amount of business has been turned away in that process.'' Business chiefs slam `tax haven' remark He said this expensive restraint was proof Bermuda was not a business centre merely in pursuit of easy money as the term tax haven suggested.

"And Bermuda's reputation is built on that. It's one of the reasons why Bermuda has been quite successful in avoiding the kind of scandals that have arisen in other offshore jurisdictions.

"The term tax haven has a very derogatory ring to it these days.'' He said Mr. Perinchief's comments were "contrary to everything business leaders have been working toward for decades''.

"To refer to Bermuda now as a tax haven is to degrade the status of Bermuda as a financial centre.'' But he conceded the definition of the term was in the "eye of the beholder'' although he insisted the term should only be applied to those countries whose "only claim to business is tax or lack of tax''.

"There are so many tax differences between countries and even between states in countries so how great does that have to be before somewhere is branded a tax haven? Going further would we also be classified as a harmful tax jurisdiction as per the OECD? Our position there is we sincerely hope not.

"Nevertheless that is a definition the OECD is looking at in relation to a number of jurisdictions including Bermuda. And this type of comment is really not helpful to the effort.'' He pointed to Bermuda's highly developed infrastructure, the regulatory environment for business and the lack of "tens of thousands of companies with a nameplate and nothing else'' unlike other jurisdictions .

"The majority of international companies here conduct substantial business.

The development of our international business has been an evolutionary process and we've been very successful in developing substantial business here as is evidenced by the insurance industry.

"We have a smaller number of international companies here than other jurisdictions because here they tend to be businesses of substance rather than just nameplates. That's not to say something untoward can't slip through the net as it does everywhere but the vast majority are quality and substantial business that we attract.'' TAXES TAX