We will do everything to protect VFSC integrity: Chairman

The Chairman of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission Mr Bill Bani made the following statement in light of the recent flurry of articles on the issue of the very controversial AFP raids on some of Vanuatu’s prominent members of the Finance Centre.
“Vanuatu is one of the most compliant countries in the Pacific in terms both of enacting legislations and implementing and enforcing recommendations of responsible international institutions such as OECD and FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering). The industry in Vanuatu has responded positively to the ever increasing challenges from onshore jurisdictions by improving its self-regulating functions and substantially upgrading the professionalism of its services. The two primary legitimate functions of the offshore industry, asset protection and lawful tax avoidance, have survived and rebounded from the stigma of the ways in which they have been abused in the past and the resulting reaction and attack from other jurisdictions. The key to our survival has been that we make every effort to ensure that offshore companies are used for legitimate structuring and lawful avoidance purposes and not for simply hiding taxable transactions.
“Just as there is a fine line between lawful tax avoidance and tax evasion, there is a fine line between the use and abuse of mutual assistance treaties. The Mutual Crime Assistance Act was passed to assist foreign jurisdictions in the prevention and investigation of serious offences which are crimes in both the requesting jurisdiction and in Vanuatu. It was never intended to become a tool for the enforcement of domestic taxation.
“Mutual respect for each other’s jurisdictional integrity is a fundamental principle of international treaties without which unfortunate events such as the recent raids take on the appearance of an attempt to destroy our industry and reputation. They also pose the risk of setting a precedent that could imperil our sovereignty and in that regard VFSC aligns itself with Minister Willie Jimmy’s statement of Wednesday, May 7, 2008
“In spite of these recent events, the VFSC Board, through its Commissioner, Mr. George Andrews (who, unfortunately, has been misquoted on some of these issues), will continue to do everything in its power to maintain, enhance and expand the range and quality of both its domestic and offshore services, to the benefit of Vanuatu’s economy and reputation. It will also take whatever steps are available to it to protect the integrity of its jurisdiction.”