TV review: Undercover - How To Dodge Tax: Panorama

Or because they wanted to see more famous faces named and shamed, Jimmy Carr style, for hiding their mega wealth by ruthlessly exploiting the loopholes which continue to exist in our frustratingly flawed legal system.

They'd have been gravely disappointed on both fronts. Firstly, because this depressingly thought-provoking investigation was all about exposing so-called 'corporate service providers' who don't deal with people unless they already have seriously deep pockets.

And secondly, because it was not interested in snaring familiar TV personalities, but exposing the activities of an ever-increasing number of faceless, apparently law-abiding ordinary British folk who are defrauding the Treasury a world away from the public spotlight.

The programme was a joint investigation by Panorama with the Guardian newspaper and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Darragh McIntyre and a team of undercover reporters set out to lift the lid on a secretive world in which bending UK law and even turning a blind eye to crime is frequently part of the deal.

In just half an hour, the secret filming opened up a veritable chasm in the UK's tax system, demonstrating how companies are only too prepared to keep investors' identities secret by setting up fake companies for them with sham directors . . . for a handsome price, but far below what they would have to pay in UK tax.

HM Revenue & Customs declined to comment on why it has not prosecuted a single one of these corporate service providers. Ever. How ironic, then, that it has contacted hundreds of suspected tax dodgers this week, warning them their financial affairs are under close scrutiny.

Personally, I'm with former Metropolitan Police officer Tristram Hicks, who could barely hide his disgust, alarmed at the apparent ease with which the Panorama crew had unearthed shady business deals involving UK-bound cash in locations as far-flung as Belize, Mauritius, Panama, and the Channel Islands.

There was undercover reporter Tony, who claimed to have £6 million of undeclared funds in a Swiss bank account, which he wanted to shift to another offshore tax haven with no links to himself. No problem, the dubious investors said.

And a second fake investor who pretended to represent five Indian officials looking to smuggle the proceeds of under-the-counter bribes on building contracts. Piece of corporate cake, he was told, in return for a fee of up to £200,000 per year.

So here's the thing. How can the increasingly cash-strapped British treasury be seeing multi-million pound tax fortunes slip through its fingers, while apparently lacking the appetite or resources to do anything about it?

Is this the same reason we have an increasing number of illegal immigrants and benefit cheats bleeding the nation dry?

Business secretary Vince Cable talks a tough game, describing the schemes as 'sunny places for shady people'. But, as one of the providers says: "Tax authorities don't have the resources to chase everybody down. They reckon it's probably the same rough odds as probably winning the lottery."

This programme was timely and important viewing.

In a month when the money-manipulating activities of major corporations from Amazon and Starbucks to Google have come under fire, major questions are being asked about who the villains are.

The conclusion reached by this short, sharp shock of a show was that those white collar criminals paying the minimum to maximise profits, and the law-makers creating and doing little to sew up the loopholes in the first place, should share the shame-faced blame between them.

By Carl Jones