Government demands to crack down on white collar crime and money laundering, Premier Pamela Gordon insisted yesterday.

Ms Gordon said: "I believe if we don't remain vigilant, we could wind up giving away the shop and we are not prepared to do that.'' She was speaking after UK Foreign Office Economic Relations Department head Nicholas Westcott and British Treasury official James London made a whistle-stop trip to Bermuda to brief international businessman, bankers and Government on British financial regulation proposals.

Mr. Westcott said: "I feel we were able to clear up a number of questions raised about the impact of money laundering legislation.'' The Royal Gazette reported earlier this year after conferences in London and the Bahamas that Government and the international business sector feared British-inspired legislation would hit the offshore sector by opening up its books to "fishing expeditions''.

And both Government and big business have set their faces against any move towards "dual criminality'' for UK Overseas Territories.

That would make it a crime in Bermuda for someone to commit a tax offence under UK or other countries' laws -- "fiscal offences.'' The talks were held in secret -- but business leaders revealed a number of areas where concerns were raised.

One is that none of the international conventions signed by the UK require legislation to extend to fiscal offences.

And in one 1990 convention to tackle money-laundering and search and seizure of the proceeds of crime, Britain specifically excluded drug-trafficking crimes which were not considered offences under English law.

The international Financial Action Task Force -- of which Bermuda is a member of the Caribbean sub-group -- also does not insist that money laundering laws should cover fiscal offences.

And it is feared the UK proposals could mean a resident in Bermuda could end up in court for falling foul of tax laws in foreign countries.

International business also asked the UK Government if it would hammer its taxpayers to compensate the Island if international business fled its shores because of UK-imposed laws.

And it is understood there is confusion even among international tax experts on the difference between illegal tax evasion and tax avoidance -- which is not a crime.

Mr. Westcott declined to be specific on the contents of yesterday's talks.

But he said: "Fishing expeditions were an issue which was raised and we did discuss it. I think we were able to allay quite a lot of fears of the private sector on that score.'' He declined to comment further on the talks until he has prepared a report for the Premier on his recommendations to the UK Government -- which he expected would be ready "within the next few days''.

But Ms Gordon said: "It's too early to be optimistic -- we will have a better handle once we get the document fed back from the UK Government.'' UK talks She added, however: "I'm definitely encouraged that Mr. Westcott came and not only met with the private sector, but is prepared to go back and make sure his responses to the private sector and Government are in keeping with what his Government's requirements are.'' Ms Gordon insisted that the Island is not in principle against having fiscal offences on its law books.

But she said: "Where it becomes a problem is when the perception is that we need to become experts in tax laws in jurisdictions other than Bermuda.

"We don't have income tax, so we don't have some kinds of law which would tackle tax evasion.

"We are not prepared to be the watchdogs of the world -- the number of staff would be unrealistic in a country of this size.

"And it would increase the cost of doing business when we are not a jurisdiction where it's inexpensive to do business.'' Accountancy firm chief Jan Spiering -- chairman of the International Business Forum -- met with the English officials and backed the Premier's views.

He said: "At this stage it's too early to say we are totally happy with everything but it certainly has cleared up certain things.

"We as a business community believe we meet all the requirements -- our concern continues to be we don't want to be asked to jump higher fences than anyone else. We want a level playing field with our competitors.''