An article in This Is Jersey asserts Richard Murphy and others have attempted to blackmail Jersey politician Senator Stuart Syvret:
The Senator made the complaint against John Christensen, director of the international secretariat of Tax Justice Network (TJN), and Richard Murphy, a director of Tax Research, who both deny attempting to blackmail the Senator.
My instant reaction was to roll my eyes at the stupidity of a public servant taking this kind of action. OK – so Richard and John have a knack of getting up people’s noses. Heck – Richard and I have been known to have ‘spirited exchanges’ where we’ve both crawled off to our respective corners of the blogosphere – bloodied but not bowed I should add. Nevertheless, I am inclined to stand with Richard and John on this one. Because right is on their side.
No-one other than the protagonists know the reality behind the charge or the documents that might lead Mr Syvret to lay his charge. We only have each party’s word for what has passed between them and information contained in the public domain. So…swiftly donning my barrack room lawyer’s wig…suggesting, as Richard has done that Mr Syvret is ‘guilty’ of hypocrisy is hardly the basis for blackmail:
We think it’s hypocritical to preach about others lack of ethics and misrepresent your own affiliations in the process. He didn’t like that, at all. That’s why he complained. And then he threatened to report the sins (as he sees them) of my career, as noted above, far and wide. Not that they will be news to anyone. My CV has been on line for longer than I can remember, and is oft downloaded.
John says in an open letter to Mr Syvret:
Your attempts to publicly distance yourself from your inner convictions risk turning you into a latter-day local version of Fox. It is time for you to come out and state publicly what you stand for on the important issues of the day.
What Mr Syvret doesn’t seem to understand is that once this charade is over, he is:
- Going to look like Fox’s ghost – ridiculed and with a reputation in tatters
- Risks receiving a civil lawsuit for defamation. It is very serious to bring this kind of charge and for it to be found to be without substance. Looking at the available ‘evidence’ I find it hard to see how Richard or John have subjected Mr Syvret to blackmail. Richard in particular has rendered what I would call an opinion as to Mr Syvret’s character. Assuming Richard has the emails to back up his argument then I too would be tempted to shout ‘hypocrite.’
- Transparency is the name of the game in today’s media. I know from reading his posts and speaking on numerous occasions that Richard has been scrupulous in that regard.
I sincerely hope this story makes its way beyond the relatively cosy confines of the blogosphere.
As an aside, what Mr Syvret fails to recognise is that in attacking Jersey’s unabashed attempts to climb the tax haven rankings, both Richard and John are seeking to find solutions for a British protectorate (isn’t it?) that looks like it is sinking under the weight of its own irrational tax practices and about which they passionately care. No crime there.
Technorati Tags: blackmail, Jersey tax haven, tax justice, tax madness, taxresearch
