Providenciales, 11 Feb 2015 – TCI Premier stating that these islands are not a ‘tax haven’ and taking grave exception to statements made by UK Labour Party leader Ed Miliband who is under fire from overseas territories which are outraged at his charges lined to alleged tax dodgers. Hon Rufus Ewing in a statement issued yesterday explains that the TCI is a well regulated, compliant jurisdiction and that the country stands in solidarity with other OTs on the matter.
Premier listed that the TCI has maintained and I quote: “…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.” Most recently, he said, the Deputy Premier joined other UK OT Leaders, and supported the UK Prime Minister 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. It was explained that for the territories, Prime Minister Cameron – whom he said does not label the territories as Tax Havens – is already acting on commitments for a publicly available central registry of beneficial ownership of companies in the UK and has encouraged the territories to follow the lead.
Ed Miliband in statements made on the weekend said he was sending a letter to warn the territories about sheltering tax evaders who are causing the people of Britain to miss out on benefits from their tax dollars. The Premier said he has received no letter; at least not yet.
