Finance Minister Eugene Cox last night came under fire amid claims he is behind the eight ball on United Nations moves to police offshore financial centres.

And Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said: "I would say I was certainly surprised and a little bit disappointed that the Minister of Finance was not aware of the original study which was done, which I believe came out last summer.'' Dr. Gibbons contrasted Mr. Cox's statements on Thursday when he said he was "not aware'' of the UN Offshore Initiative with a prepared statement delivered to the House of Assembly yesterday outlining details of the UN probe.

The Shadow Finance Minister said: "It is of concern that the Minister does not seem to be well informed.'' And he warned: "A lot of these initiatives require a proactive approach -- it's not simply a question waiting and letting things happen.

"You have to be out there putting Bermuda's best foot forward and having a clear understanding of when these things are coming. You have to make sure Bermuda is differentiated from other offshore jurisdictions and protected from any initiatives which may come up.'' Dr. Gibbons said that he had received a copy of the original UN report on tax issues and offshore money laundering last summer.

He added: "It was rather ill-informed on a couple of things, but it's quite well-informed on others.'' But Dr. Gibbons said a reference to a lack of regulation in the Bermuda insurance industry -- and which used the phrase "Bermuda Triangle'' in the context of money laundering -- had raised hackles at the Ministry and the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Dr. Gibbons said: "The phrase `Bermuda Triangle' was both ill-informed and entirely inappropriate.'' And he added the BMA had drafted a letter of complaint -- although he said he was not sure if it had been sent. The UN -- following the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the EU -- is to turn the spotlight on offshore jurisdictions.

But -- unlike the OECD's `guilty until proven innocent' approach, the UN wants to offer a stamp of approval for top-notch jurisdictions. Dr. Gibbons, however, said the UN report had called the Bermuda insurance industry as "not being particularly well-regulated.'' But he added: "Our regulations, particularly from a solvency point of view, are stricter than many onshore.'' And he said: "These kind of comments need to be addressed by the Ministry of Finance and the Minister because we are seeing more and more of these sorts of initiatives and trend by these larger economic unions like the EU or international bodies to be even more widely spread in their roles and what they are looking at.'' Mr. Cox told the House yesterday that the UN was taking action on a 1998 report on Financial Havens, Banking Secrecy and Money Laundering.'' He added that the international Financial Action Task Force had shown a tendency to regard all offshore centres as "universally bad'' -- but added that hard line appeared to be softening. Mr. Cox told MPs: "The UN Initiative parallels that line of thinking in that it proposes a league of internationally approved offshore centres with acceptable standards of control over their use by the financial industry.'' Cox attacked over UN initiative Reports in the English press said that competitors like the Caymans and Gibraltar had already opened talks with the UN. The Royal Gazette was unable to establish at what level these talks had taken place. But Mr. Cox told the House: "Bermuda's membership of the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors is the current link to participation in the activities of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.''