An insult to common sense.
That is how Minister of International Business, Donville Inniss, described suggestions that Barbados was linked to the Paradise Papers leak.
The Paradise Papers is a global investigation headed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, looking at the offshore activities of some of the world’s most powerful people and companies.
Investigators examined 13.4 million leaked files obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, of offshore law firms and the company registries in what the report described as some of the world’s most secretive countries.
Barbados was reportedly listed among the 19 secrecy jurisdictions.
The Paradise Papers documents included nearly seven million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby, a prestigious offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and beyond.
“There is a group of individuals and companies around the world that seems to exist solely to spread a lot of rumours and cause a lot of confusion around the world,” Inniss told the media yesterday during a break in the three-day training workshop on quality standards at the Radisson Aquatica.
“With those Paradise Papers, you will get a lot more of that happening. They like to pick on politicians and wealthy individuals in their own countries and seek to trace where they are engaging and investing. But I am satisfied that the majority of investment that such entities and individuals make are done in a very legitimate manner, designed to protect assets,” he said.
The minister gave a robust defence of the island’s reputation in the international business sector.
“I don’t deny that there are jurisdictions that may facilitate tax evasion and some illicit activities, but Barbados, I must stress over and over again, is not that kind of domicile. We have never been a country that could justifiably earn the reputation of being a tax haven. We do charge taxes to businesses in this entity, whether there are domestically, regionally or internationally owned and controlled. More importantly, we always strive to improve on our regulation of those entities that come into our space, domestically, regionally or internationally,” he stated.
“We also have banks in Barbados, Canadian primarily, and other banks here that themselves are well regulated and are also part of the International Banking Group that really adhere to highest international standards and can be very tough individuals. I have potential investors and clients in Barbados who complain about the difficulty in dealing with some of our systems, our regimes and our banks. And I always contend that if you can legitimately do business in Barbados, you can legitimately do business anywhere in the world. The minute you want shortcuts, go take your business elsewhere.” (YB)