Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards has called into question exactly what and when Government knew about the requirement to sign 12 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) by September.

Mr. Richards, whose party, the UBP, set up the first tax treaty between Bermuda and the US under former Premier Sir John Swan in the 1980s, queried how long the Ministry of Finance had known about the deadline for the TIEAs to be signed and how Crown dependencies, such as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, had managed to get their act together.

Finance Minister Paula Cox told The Royal Gazette at the Risk and Insurance Management Society Conference (RIMS) on Tuesday that Bermuda's inclusion on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) "grey list" of jurisdictions which have not been considered to meet international tax transparency standards they have already committed to.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent out a letter to all British territories considered financial centres, which urged them to sign 12 TIEAs by September or face the possibility of sanctions.

But Mr. Richards said that while the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey were scrambling to complete the signing of their 12 TIEAs on time, Bermuda seemed to be doing very little about it.

"I think it is clear that Bermuda does not seem to be in touch with the people that count," he said.

"On the one hand, the Minister says that the UK has got it wrong, but somehow the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey got it right.

"They were running a sprint and we were running some sort of long-distance race.

"The question that Bermudians want to know the answer to is 'What did Minister Cox know about the number of TIEAs that Bermuda required and when did she know it?"

Mr. Richards asked whether Government was not given the same opportunities to meet the deadline as the three Crown dependencies were afforded and did Minister Cox not know about the cut off date or did she know about it, but was not able to pull everything together?

"I think it is very important for Bermuda to know," he said.

"Were we left out because the UK Government froze us out or did we get on the grey list because the Ministry of Finance fumbled the ball?"