News

PREMIER EWING RESPONDS TO BRITISH MP EDWARD MILIBAND ON BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP & CENTRAL REGISTRY

Published

9 years ago

February 10, 2015

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuesday February 10, 2015 – Note has been taken of the various unfortunate statements made by UK Opposition Labour Party Leader the Rt. Hon. Edward Miliband as quoted recently in a number of the UK Media Channels where he charges that the UK Overseas Territories are not complying with UK directives as it relates to beneficial ownership of companies and public central registries of beneficial ownership of companies.

It must first be stated that as Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, I have 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. 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.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Government takes exception to the statement made by Mr. Miliband, in referring to our jurisdiction as a “Tax Haven”. The Turks and Caicos Islands 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.

The Turks and Caicos Islands, represented by the Deputy Premier in June 2014, along with other UK OT Leaders, 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. 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, Mr. Cameron emphatically stated are not tax havens, to follow suite.

In keeping with our joint UK/OTs commitment for transparency and to proactively combat illicit activities, the Turks and Caicos Islands 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 the Turks and Caicos Islands Cabinet has reviewed the results.

It is the position of the Turks and Caicos Islands that we will continue to comply with all of the global standards as issued by FATF, Global Forum, AML Directives, G20 Principles and we will continue to improve our systems, in ways that support sound business growth locally and globally. However, until such time as there is global agreement on appropriate exemptions and safeguards, and a public central registry becomes the internationally practiced standard, the Turks and Caicos Islands will continue to follow its current regime.

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. Such engagement would have allowed Mr. Miliband to familiarize himself with our 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. Mr. Miliband would have then been in a better position to more appropriately inform his party’s manifesto in support of assisting the Turks and Caicos Islands and other OTs economies, as one would expect of responsible leadership, rather than utilizing outdated and damaging descriptions that undermine the strident efforts made by OTs to date to meet and in some cases surpass internally accepted standards.

The Turks and Caicos Islands stands committed to support and implement any global transparency initiatives and directives that will combat tax evasion, money laundering and financing of terrorism, and welcome discussions 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.
END

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News

Register of Interests of the Members of the House of Assembly

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – The Integrity Commission advises that the Register of Interests for Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022 has been completed.

Members of the House of Assembly are required by the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution, Section 103(2), and the Integrity Commission Ordinance (the Ordinance), as amended, Section 52(1), to file with the Commission, Statements of Registrable Interests. The Commission would, therefore, like to inform members of the public that, it has compiled the information contained in these Statements of Registrable Interests and has produced The Register of Interests 2022 for the Members of the House of Assembly, as at 31st December 2022.

The Register of Interests 2022 is now available for public inspection at the following locations:

House of Assembly in Grand Turk
Office of the Premier – Grand Turk and Providenciales
Office of the Integrity Commission – Grand Turk and Providenciales (during the hours of 8:30am to 4:30pm from Mondays to Thursdays and 8:00am to 4:00pm on Fridays.)
Office of the District Commissioner – Middle Caicos, North Caicos, Salt Cay and South Caicos.

The Register can be viewed at these locations during normal working hours or at a time that is convenient for the respective offices.

For further information or any assistance please contact the Integrity Commission:

By telephone at: 946-1941(Grand Turk Office) or 941-7847 (Providenciales Office) By e-mail at: secretary@integritycommission.tc or info@integritycommission.tc

Bahamas News

Grand Bahama to be CARGO HUB, as Bahamas & Qatar ink MOU

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#TheBahamas, September 29, 2023 – With moves to deepen ties, governments of The Bahamas and Qatar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to solidify agreements in principle surrounding the development of aviation and other related services.

This is according to Chester Cooper, The Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment and Aviation in a Facebook post.

This comes after The Bahamas Government in a press release on September 24th, revealed that Cooper, was set to meet with the head of Qatar Airways to have talks regarding “multiple mutually beneficial aviation opportunities for both countries.”

The release also said the deputy prime minister and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investment and Aviation are working on “forging strategic partnerships with several Middle Eastern countries to strengthen ties to The Bahamas and the Caribbean,” and this new signing is indicative of such efforts.

Following the September 25th signing, on September 27th, Kenneth Romer, Deputy Director General of Tourism for The Bahamas informed via Facebook some details of the agreement saying, “we have now established a framework for cooperation and formed strategic partnerships with Qatar Airways, Qatar’s Transport, Aviation and Investment Agencies and The Qatar Aeronautical Academy, that will benefit our country.”

Regarding further efforts for the improvement of The Bahamas, Cooper announced on Facebook again on Tuesday September 26th that both countries are working to make Nassau a passenger hub for Latin America and the Caribbean adding that talks are being held for Grand Bahama as a cargo hub.

Additionally, as the press release informed, Cooper is preparing for an on ground visit of Bahamasair domestic operations by Qatar Airways Technical team sometime in October.

Caribbean News

Guyana to build regional food hub

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Guyana, September 29, 2023 – Guyana is making moves to become the primary food production center for the Caribbean, going ahead with plans to develop a USD$14 million regional food hub.

In fact, as reported by the Observer, the facility has already been identified on the country’s Soesdyke /Linden Highway.

Guyana seems to really want this to become a reality and Zulfikar Mustapha, Agriculture Minister, expressed this, highlighting what Guyana has over its Caribbean sister Islands.

“We want Guyana to be the food hub, the primary production hub of the Caribbean so that we could supply the Caribbean. What we have, our colleagues in the Caribbean don’t have. We have arable flat land and abundant fresh water,” he said, adding that with the multi-million dollar US investment, the country can, “modernise the infrastructure, and start ramping up the productions.”

Also, the Agriculture Minister pointed out that the project is geared to make for a more competitive local Agriculture industry as well as developing high-yielding varieties, pest-resistant and climate-resilient varieties.

Additionally, in the facility’s development, Guyana, Mustapha said, will work with Belize.

In fact, with more on Belize’s involvement, Dr. Ashni Singh, Finance Minister, informed that the Government is in talks with the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley about sourcing inputs from northern Brazil and transporting them through Guyana to Barbados and vice versa.

Singh also reportedly revealed that the project will help develop the growing logistics industry in Guyana.

Considering regional food import cost, with this development, Guyana is the leading Caribbean Community country pushing ahead with plans to reduce the multi-billion dollar regional food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025, the Observer says.