KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been removed from a French blacklist of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
Prime Minister Gonsalves told Parliament that the decision by Paris to place the Caribbean island on the blacklist was unilateral since the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2010 declared St. Vincent and the Grenadines “clean”.
“The Ministry of Finance of St. Vincent and the Grenadines welcomes the removal from the French blacklist of tax havens as it considers that there was no merit in placing St. Vincent and he Grenadines on such a list in the first place.”
In 2010 France “blacklisted” 18 countries around the world as being uncooperative tax havens and advised that it would be imposing punitive taxes on French companies operating in these jurisdictions.
Several other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, including Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia, were also placed on the list.
Gonsalves said the move ollowed an initiative by the OECD, the international body with oversight of international tax transparency, which places country’s on “black”, “grey” or “white” lists deepening on their level of cooperation,.
He said that France is a member of the OECD and its action to compile its own black list was unilateral and separate from the action taken by the OECD
Several Caribbean countries including St. Vincent and the Grenadines were grey listed in April 2009 for not demonstrating a commitment even though they had showed a willingness to comply with international tax standard of transparency.
But the country was removed from the list less than a year after as it had completed the requisite number of Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) — over 12 — to illustrate its commitment to tax transparency and exchange.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed a TIEA in April 2010 and by July 2010 the island had completed internal procedures for the enforcement of the agreement.
“France blacklisted St. Vincent and the Grenadines when negotiation had already commenced and were on-going between both countries for the establishment of a TIEA.
“St. Vincent and the Grenadines has no history of being uncooperative with France but appears to have qualified for inclusion on the blacklist by reasons of operating an international financial services industry. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, at this time, would have already completed 18 TIEAs, more than the number required to meet the international standards,” Gonsalves told legislators.
In March 2010, Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance, unsuccessfully wrote the French government requesting that the island be removed from the blacklist.
“France has now officially acknowledged that St. Vincent and the Grenadines can be removed from its blacklist,” Gonsalves said.
“It appears as though the left hand in France did not know what the right hand was doing and this is why we ended up on their so-called blacklist,” Gonsalves said, adding that countries like St. Vincent and the Grenadines “must always be on guard to maintain their sovereignty and independence”.
He said that the region must be careful of anything that “seeks to derogate from the juridical capacity” and “those who want to score political points across the country”.
Gonsalves said such entities should not to tamper with “the juridical basis of our sovereignty and independence”, adding, “this is something which is of critical importance to us: to stand up and to be counted in the comity of nations and it reflects on all of these matters.
“We made our position very clear in relation to France at the time. I notice elections are coming on in France and we have the drumbeat again of non-cooperative jurisdictions and also ‘the French blacklist’. And I see several Caribbean countries they have on it … but the among the countries listed are countries that are recognised, generally speaking, to have ‘clean’ off shore jurisdictions or international financial jurisdictions,” Gonsalves said.
“But there some people in Europe — it doesn’t matter what is their philosophical position, whether they are social democrats, as the case of former prime minster Gordon Brown in the United Kingdom or President Sarkozy [of France], towards the right wing in France — they hold the same position.
“It is as though people are looking for excuses for the meltdown in their own countries, in the United States and Europe with a lack of proper regulation and all the like to try and blame other people for their problems,” Gonsalves said.
He added that Caribbean nations “had nothing to do with the crash of international capitalism.
“We have had to bear the consequences. So when I speak on an issue like this and there are persons who try to pretend that large countries don’t want to see us in a disadvantageous position and who might be inclined to belittle our sovereignty and independence.
“ I urge them to rethink and I give them the benefit of my long years of study of history and my experience as Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the last 11 years. … When we are addressing these countries, we should be as one and don’t have the petty divisions among us,” Gonsalves told legislators.
CMC/kc/pr/2012