Media backlash against BVI financial services politically motivated – Malone
The Virgin Islands’ financial services industry continues to be heavily criticized through media reports, but Executive Director of the recently formed BVI Finance, Mr Kedrick Malone believes the attacks are politically motivated, reports BVI Platinum.
“I think a lot of the media you are seeing is politically motivated. It is motivated by countries who have challenging times themselves,” Mr Malone stated.
During a recent debate in the UK’s House of Commons on tax avoidance, Anas Sarwar, Shadow Minister (International Development) told his colleagues of a recent report by Christian Aid that three British Overseas Territories are among the 20 jurisdictions that are most used by the corrupt.
The three listed were the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
According Mr Sarwar, the crown dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man also featured on the list, making UK-linked jurisdictions the most used for grand corruption.
“We cannot credibly say on the international stage that we are champions for tax justice while that is happening. Another shocking statistic, this one from Reuters, is that between US$21 trillion and US$32 trillion in private financial assets are held in tax havens and an estimated 30 per cent of that comes from developing countries. Nearly US$1 trillion a year in capital flows out of developing countries, making Africa a net creditor to the world, which in itself is a shocking statistic,” Mr Sarwar pointed out.
Mr. Malone stated that all the BVI can do is comply with standards that are set by international bodies.
“You can ask for those standards to be applied equally, whether you are BVI, a small country or a large country, to have a level playing field. I think once you have a level playing field, BVI can compete with what it does with anyone out there. We have been doing that for 30 years,” Mr. Malone stated.
He explained that once the economic situation improves and countries are not as pressed about revenues and austerity measures, then the backlash against BVI and small offshore centers will start to go away because essentially, it is politically expedient sometimes to blame someone else for a situation that they may not have anything to deal with.
“They are very easy targets. We have grown and learned how to defend ourselves and we will continue to defend ourselves in what we do because we are playing by the rules,” Mr Malone noted.
