OECD listed but never informed of concerns on TCI investor policy, Premier calls clarity and proof of any breach

#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – October 22, 2018 – It is not true that the Turks and Caicos is blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation, OECD for one of its investor incentive programs and there will be no change to that program according to Premier and Finance Minister, Sharlene Robinson, who on Friday addressed the issue.

“The TCI and other countries does not have to make amendments as the programs are legitimate and are not being used for any illicit activities, particularly not to avoid payment of taxes.  The Turks and Caicos’ transparency program is aligned with the international standards on tax information sharing and is fully compliant,” said Robinson at her office in Provo to the media core.

The Turks and Caicos was among countries on a list published in a UK Guardian news article which cites the TCI Investment Permanent Residency Certificate program as ‘suspect’.  The policy, managed jointly by Invest Turks and Caicos Agency, the Ministry of Border Control and the Governor’s Office has landed the TCI onto the infamous list of countries allegedly misbehaving in its financial services sector.  The Premier of the country says this list is not rightly named as she called on the OECD to clear up the negative perceptions.

“I wish to state clearly, that the Turks and Caicos Islands has not been ‘blacklisted’.  She continued with, “Quite frankly, I wish to state that the OECD does not produce a blacklist of any anomalies that countries might have but more a list of high risk situations.  The media has turned this list to a blacklist and I believe the OECD should call for a correction to these stories and will certainly write to them, inviting them to do so.”

Premier Robinson explained that if the OECD is truly troubled by the investment policy, then it has been silent on the matter with no communication to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government about the PRC program.

“The OECD has to produce substantial facts that countries are in breach of the standard and make a case for revision or removal of the program.  We are not in receipt of any such correspondence and certainly wish to state our continued commitment to running a clean jurisdiction and will continue to comply with international standards.”

The UK Guardian article was published on Tuesday October 16, 2018, under the headline: ‘Tax evasion: blacklist of 21 countries with ‘golden passport’ schemes published’.  The article online is essentially a news story on the OECD’s reported concern about the ease of wealthy investors to get residency status in the named countries, opening the door to possible tax avoidance.