Retired businessman Professor Charles Cain has penned a new book in a bid to help people understand the offshore financial world.
Manxman Mr Cain, 75, said he wanted to write in a way that the layman would understand.
The book does have a long title: ‘Understanding Offshore - Offshore Fiduciary Structures - A Primer.’
But Mr Cain, a former Ramsey MHK and a proud Manxman says it will appeal to a wide audience.
He said: ‘There are plenty of technical books about offshore finance and structure but there was nothing to introduce people to the subject.
‘The problem is that in the last few months there have been idiots in the House of Commons saying idiotic things and they simply don’t understand what they are talking about.
‘I get very angry at some of the incompetence and misunderstanding of the financial world. And people who don’t understand what they are talking about simply make bad decisions.
‘So I decided it was about time I sat down and wrote something different. This book is non-technical.
‘Everything is designed to be easy to read. And it’s designed to be a good read.
‘The book is in two parts. the first is about the offshore concept and about money and fiduciary. The second part of the book is about structures.
‘There are also two chapters on trusts which very few people understand.’
Father of four sons Mr Cain lives with his wife Angela at Renshent near Eary Dam.
Business News asked the blunt question for Mr Cain: ‘What does fiduciary mean? His answer was: ‘It means somebody is doing something with your money.’
He added that it took around three years, on and off, to get the book prepared.
‘I had to plan it, I had a lot of material. And every single bit of it is relevant to the Isle of Man. I’m a Manxman and this is my third book.’
Asked what sort of people are likely to buy the book he said: ‘I hope people who need to understand what they are talking about when they are involved in offshore work. And that includes journalists, Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, bureaucrats and perhaps professionals coming into the industry.
‘There is no dogma in this. Every assertion I make is supported by evidence.
One of the questions Mr Cain raises is this: ‘Is it moral to engage in tax avoidance?
He said: ‘There’s a whole section on that, on the morality of tax and I hope that by the end of it you will realise that anybody who says tax avoidance is immoral is a fool.
‘Tax avoidance, everybody does. You don’t pay taxes you don’t have to.
‘There’s nothing wrong in it at all (tax avoidance).’
During our interview he has strong words to say about the UK Government and gives short shrift to people such as Margaret Hodge MP, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the Commons.
But on the whole he believes the island’s government is ‘doing the right thing.’ He believes this is probably because the island’s politicians are quickly held to account here for what they do and if something is done wrong then protests happen quickly.
‘The resistance if they do something stupid becomes evident pretty quickly. It is a characteristic of government in the Isle of Man; it’s very immadiate. If somebody cocks up something the protest is immediate .’
Mr Cain added that ‘There is no such thing as a tax haven.
‘People who use the term tax haven do not know what they are talking about.
‘Everywhere has taxes. There are different forms of taxation. We are not a tax haven [Isle of Man]. We are a low tax regime.
‘In fact the Manx Government raises about as much money in tax per capita as the UK does. Tax haven is a meaningless expression.’
Mr Cain spoke from Peel Football Club during one of his visits to see former professional footballer Rick Holden who runs a physiotherapy practice and has been helping Mr Cain who has Parkinson’s Disease.
Mr Holden is also a partner in a publishing business called Wibble Publishing that has published the book which is set to go on sale in local shops .
Mr Holden, who played in defence for clubs such as Oldham Athletic, Manchester City, Burnley and Blackpool, described Mr Cain as a ‘top Manx bloke’.
He said that when he mentioned to Mr Cain that he ran a publishing company ‘his eyes lit up’.
Mr Holden said they talked about the book during their physiotherapy sessions. He said he looked at the book and was impressed.
‘I read it and edited it and it is absolutely fantastic. The way he has written it in this vernacular style is impressive.’
Professor Cain is the retired former chairman of LJ Management (IoM) Ltd based at Ramsey. He was born and brought up in Peel and during the Second World War his family moved around the UK following his father who was a staff officer in the RAF.
After going to a number of schools he won a choristership at King’s College, Cambridge, singing in the college chapel for five years.
He spent two years in the British Army in Black Watch.
He returned to Cambridge as an undergraduate studying economics and singing again in King’s College choir as a bass.
He told Business News that after university he joined Barclays Bank DCO and spent a number of years in Kenya and Uganda.
In 1972 he returned for good to the Isle of Man to run a bank (Slater Walker -iom) and in 1975 he left and started his own trust company, although that company was sold out in 1989 owing to ill health.
He said he bought a boat and went sailing aroundthe British Isles for a year-and-a half ‘more or less full time’.
He started a second trust company known as LJ Management based in Ramsey.
The business was sold out a year ago and is still a very successful company, Mr Cain said. And although retired he still enjoys going to theoffice.
‘Theoretically I am retired but in practise I go there once a week,’ he said.
wibblepublishing.com