INDICTED DISGRACED BVI EX-PREMIER ANDREW FAHIE WAS A STAUNCH OPPONENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY WHILE IN OFFICE

The upcoming visit to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) by a senior UK official, to discuss pending matters, including the British position on making Beneficial Ownership information on corporations public and accessible to all, reminds us that the former Premier, ANDREW FAHIE, consistently opposed any moves toward corporate transparency in the BVI, upon the pretext of protecting the "privacy" of shareholders of those companies.

There is a draft Order in Council, pending for the past two years, spelling out the policy of insuring that all British Overseas Territories are to become totally transparent, but Fahie has sought in the past to have that Order cancelled or modified, as to its applicability to the British Virgin Islands. His arrest, and subsequent indictment for money laundering and narcotics trafficking, and his prior recorded statements to the effect that he had previous corrupt involvement with drug smugglers would indicate that his motives in seeking to bar beneficial ownership disclosure of BVI companies were in support of criminal clients, and certainly not the people he served as Premier.

Fahie's successors in government have indicated that they intend to challenge the UK representative regarding transparency, making us suspect that they also have an ulterior motive in the perpetuation of opaque companies in their jurisdiction. BVI companies have been the favored instrument of money launderers and financial fraudsters for decades, resulting in many compliance officers assuming that such entities are, by definition, subject to enhanced due diligence, lest they be fronts for sanctioned individuals or criminal activity. I join in those sentiments; unless the client actually has a legitimate operating business in the BVI, with a physical brick-and-mortar address, there's no bloody reason for owning a company organized and registered there there. Why do you think that Mossack & Fonseca formed all their companies there, rather than Panama?