Introduction This paper is based on the topic of business ethics. The aim of the paper is to identify an ethical issue in business which has been in the news in the last four months and analyze it using ethical decision-making frame work. The issue to be discussed is the promotion of tax evasion through the use of offshore tax havens. The article which contains this issue was published in the Guardian on 20th November 2013 and was titled “Row as Barclays promotes tax havens as a gateway for investment in Africa”. Discussion of the issue The article mentioned above is based on a report published by Action Aid which is an international non governmental organization. In the report, Action Aid claimed that Barclays bank was engaged in unethical business practices by encouraging investors wishing to invest in Africa to do so through offshore tax havens, with Mauritius being the preferred route for investment in Africa and Asia. Action Aid obtained this information from a brochure published by the bank promoting Mauritius as the preferred offshore tax haven. According to Toby Quantrill (Action Aids’ tax justice adviser), the bank’s promotion of the use of offshore tax havens deprives many African countries of revenue for development due to huge loses in taxes through offshore tax havens. He went ahead to argue that the bank should encourage direct investment in Africa instead of promoting offshore tax havens. The sentiments of Action Aid were reinforced by former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan who condemned such practices citing the problems of lack of health, education, and nutrition as the key reason why corporates must invest directly in the developing countries which are in dire need of revenues to uplift the living standards of the people. Action Aid also challenged the bank to provide a comprehensive statement outlining the affairs of its offshore corporate section and the evidence showing that it was not involved in tax evasion. The use of offshore tax havens deprives countries of revenue in two ways. One is through lack of taxation of the investments since they are considered as subsidiaries of the companies’ main branches situated in a tax haven jurisdiction. The other way is through non taxation of profits which are repatriated to the companies’ main branches in the offshore tax haven jurisdiction in compliance with double taxation treaties signed between the offshore haven jurisdiction and the other countries. This enables companies to maximize their profits through cunningly avoiding taxation of their investments and profits. The use of offshore tax havens is contrasted with direct investment where investors pay the respective taxes for their investments as well as for the income which they get from the countries where they have investments. Through this, the countries where the companies have investments are able to generate a lot of revenue which is used by the governments to provide services to the people. Analysis of the issue The use of offshore tax havens by corporates is an ethical issue because it has to do with whether corporates should avoid taxation or not. It also has to do with whether the act of promoting offshore tax havens amounts to unethical practice by Barclays bank or not. The fact that Barclays promotes the use of offshore tax havens paints a bad picture of a bank which has the dream of becoming the “strongest force for