[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 98 (Monday, July 24, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S8134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           NOTICE OF HEARING


                PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I would like to announce for the 
information of the Senate and the public that the Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing entitled ``Offshore 
Abuses: The Enablers, The Tools & Offshore Secrecy.''
  The Subcommittee has held a number of hearings addressing the issue 
of tax havens and offshore abuses which are undermining the integrity 
of the Federal tax system, diverting tens of billions of dollars each 
year from the U.S. Treasury, and undermining U.S. law enforcement. 
Hearings held in 2001 examined the historic and ongoing lack of 
cooperation by some offshore tax havens with international tax 
enforcement efforts and their resistance to divulging information 
needed to detect, stop, and prosecute U.S. tax evasion. A hearing held 
in December 2002 and report issued in January 2003 provided an in-depth 
examination of an abusive tax shelter used by Enron. Two days of 
hearings in November 2003, and a bipartisan report issued in 2005, 
provide an inside look at how some respected accounting firms, banks, 
investment advisors, and lawyers have become engines pushing the 
design, sale, and implementation of abusive tax shelters to 
corporations and individuals across the country.
  The subcommittee's upcoming August 1 hearings will present case 
histories on the use of offshore trusts and corporations to circumvent 
U.S. tax, securities and anti-money laundering laws. Witnesses for the 
upcoming hearing will be securities firms, banks, law firms, U.S. 
taxpayers, a trust protector, and tax and securities experts.
  The subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 1, 2006, at 
9 a.m. in room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. For further 
information, please contact Raymond V. Shepherd III, staff director and 
chief counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, at 224-
3721.

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