A closer look at the small island of Nevis

On reading your article about disguising owners of wealth through opaque corporations in Nevis (‘A bright light needs to be shone on this cockroach’, The long read, 12 July), I thought of a possible approach for correcting the problem, one that was not considered in the article.

Other countries can pass laws making it a crime for local property (including local corporations) to be owned by secretive foreign owners. If a disguised Nevis corporation (or any disguised corporation) is used in that way, the country where the property is located could prosecute it.

In the absence of a valid defence, it would be convicted. The punishment would be to confiscate the property.

If there is a treaty that prohibits such laws, identifying it would suggest how to use the battleship referred to in the article.
Richard Stallman
Cambridge, Massachusetts

• The longtime Lib Dem supporter John Cleese, who complains about the “lying and triviality” of British newspapers, having backed leave, says he is about to do so, to the island of Nevis (Disappointed Cleese to swap Britain for island in Caribbean, 12 July), where the “people are really kind”. Cleese seems unaware of what Oliver Bullough writes in the long read in the same day’s paper: “The years since 2008 have seen a global crackdown on offshore finance. Yet a tiny number of places have doubled down on offering secrecy to the super-rich. Among these, Nevis might be the worst offender.”
David Murray
Wallington, London

• Is it just my heat-fevered imagination, or does the aerial view of St Kitts and Nevis illustrating your long read look remarkably like the fabled colony of San Serriffe?
Chris Baker
Willington, Derbyshire

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