Providenciales, 09 Feb 2015 – At least one British Overseas Territory is reacting this weekend to the threat from the UK Labour Party Leader, Ed Miliband. Miliband said he is issuing letters to all territories which are as he put it, sheltering tax dodgers in our so called, tax havens. Miliband in a news report names The Turks and Caicos and puts our country on alert to receive that warning letter soon and says we have six months to comply before he sends in the hound dogs. Here is a direct quote from the feisty Miliband: “Billions of pounds is being siphoned off into tax havens where our authorities cannot discover even the true ownership of firms registered there, let alone the scale of wealth hidden away.”
The story goes on to say that despite PM David Cameron’s directives for the OTs to be more transparent, we are resisting. But that is not the report given by Cameron when Overseas Territories met on Downing Street in 2013; the reports were that there was agreement to ‘clampdown’ and according to the PNP Administration, the Governor’s Office, the Financial Services Commission and the Attorney General’s Office, the Turks and Caicos for example is regularly working on compliance and treaties for greater openness. Bermuda issued reaction last night and its coming from the top, PM Michael Dunkley is standing up for his territory which he labeled as the international leader in company registration with: “We would also remind Mr. Miliband of Bermuda’s strategic economic contribution to the UK, which includes direct and indirect employment in the UK of 100,000 people, as well as our role as a global hub for the reinsurance and insurance industries, providing the critical underwriting required for damage arising from natural disasters and terrorist events.”
The Conservative Party of the UK basically warn that Miliband is all talk, no action.
