BBC Panorama and Michael Ashcroft  

Last night, Panorama did the nation a great service by firing a blazing broadside at the tax cheat, Michael Ashcroft, whose business activities in the Turks and Caicos Islands are again under scrutiny. The programme alleges the billionaire Conservative peer had an interest in the construction company, Johnston International, long after claiming he had had “no economic, beneficial or legal interest in the Johnston Group since 1999” when he sold the company. Panorama blew that out of the water, providing documentary evidence of a clear and close connection between Ashcroft and Johnston International’s Chief Executive, Allan Forrest. Johnston International built a lavish $16 million mansion for Michael Misick, the former Prime Minister of TCI, who is currently under investigation for corruption. His worldwide assets were frozen last June. But he has not, as yet, been charged. In 2004,...