Premier blasts British Opposition leader on ‘tax haven’ statements

PREMIER Rufus Ewing has called out United Kingdom Opposition Leader, Edward Miliband for published statements he recently made regarding the TCI being a tax haven.

Miliband is reported in the UK press as stating that the UK overseas territories (OT) are not complying with UK directives on beneficial ownership of companies and public central registries of such.

In a statement to the press on Tuesday (February 10), Ewing stated that as Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, he is yet to receive or have sight of any correspondence from the UK Labour leader in respect of this subject at hand or any other subject.

The release continued: “However, I note the letter of Chief Minister Picardo of Gibraltar to Mr Miliband and wish to align, in most parts, the Turks and Caicos Islands’ position with that of Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, and that of the overseas territories that stand in solidarity on this issue.”

Ewing stated that the TCI Government takes exception to the statement made by Miliband, in referring to the jurisdiction as a “tax haven”.

He added that the TCI is a well regulated and compliant financial services jurisdiction that has complied with the FATF Standards, Global Forum Standards and have signed numerous Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs), including the US-FATCA, UK-FATCA and multilateral agreement on automatic exchange of information in Berlin on 29 October 2014, among numerous others agreements.

He further noted that the Islands, represented by the Deputy Premier in June 2014 along with other UK OT leaders, supported prime minister David Cameron during his presidency of the G8 as the United Kingdom made commitments to improve transparency of information to combat tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism.

“Prime minister Cameron acted on his commitment and is progressing the establishment of a publicly available central registry of beneficial ownership of companies in the UK and is encouraging all of the UK OTs, which, Cameron emphatically stated are not tax havens, to follow suite,” Ewing said.

He added that the TCI has since devised an action plan and conducted a public consultation on the issues of maintenance of legal and beneficial ownership information and the establishment of a central or public register of beneficial ownership information.

This consultation was recently concluded and Cabinet has reviewed the results, the Premier said.

He stated that it is the position of the TCI that it will continue to comply with all of the global standards as issued by FATF, Global Forum, AML Directives, G20 Principles and will continue to improve systems, in ways that support sound business growth locally and globally.

However, he added, until such time as there is global agreement on appropriate exemptions and safeguards, and a public central registry becomes the internationally practiced standard, the TCI will continue to follow its current regime.

He said: “Perhaps it would have been more helpful to these Turks and Caicos Islands and other overseas territories for the Labour leader to have sought an audience with the leaders of the overseas territories during our many visits to the UK.

“The most recent being for the purpose of the Joint Ministerial Conference meeting during which meeting, the issue of beneficial ownership was of key debate.”

Ewing said that such an engagement would have allowed Miliband to familiarise himself with OT’s jurisdictions, and perhaps he might have discovered that the OTs are not tax havens as he accuses, but, in fact, well and better regulated financial services jurisdictions than many larger jurisdictions.

Miliband would have then been in a better position to more appropriately inform his party’s manifesto in support of assisting the TCI and other OTs economies, as one would expect of responsible leadership, rather than utilising out-dated and damaging descriptions that undermine the strident efforts made by OTs to date to meet and in some cases surpass internally accepted standards.

The Premier added that the TCI is committed to support and implement any global transparency initiatives and directives that will combat tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism.

He added that discussions are welcomed with the UK as a part of the solidarity partnership among OTs on the eventual maintenance of a central registry, but this will be done cautiously and with sober thought to the appropriate level that the information should be made public.

“We must ensure that we are supporting law enforcement agencies and thwarting criminals, all while ensuring the sustainable growth and development of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the protection of the fundamental constitutional rights and privacy of the law abiding citizens and clients we serve.”