ANGUILLA CONTINUES TO IGNORE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN ITS OFFSHORE INDUSTRY

Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Eastern Caribbean, is an offshore financial center whose operation heavily supports the local economy. There is no tax in offshore entities, regarding corporate income, capital gains, estate, and gift taxes. One can easily and quickly incorporate there from a remote location, first using the online facility known as ACORN, and now Commercial Registry Electronic System (CRES) the subsequent platform; note that beneficial owner information is not publicly available.

While there is supposedly regulatory oversight, from the Anguilla Financial Services Commission (AFSC), we found in our investigation, as we have demonstrated in our continuing series of articles, that fraud and corruption are allowed to occur, and that complaints and inquiries from parties who suffer damages as the direct result of such misconduct are summarily ignored, or excused.

In the case that we have been analyzing of late, complaints of obvious misconduct verging on negligence, on the part of the Registrar of Companies, was rejected, not only by the AFSC, but by the Governor's Office itself. There is substantial correspondence to and from both to support this conclusion. The fact that the Governor, Her Excellency JULIA CROUCH, chooses to ignore the matter is significant, as all offshore schemes are by definition fragile, and their continued attraction to users is dependent upon confidence that crimes will be promptly and aggressively addressed.

Governor Crouch

We accuse the Governor's Office of pointedly ignoring what is a valid complaint, supported by a judicial determination of its validity, of misconduct of agencies under its command, and in the private sector, and where questions of corruption and mismanagement were completely ignored. If Anguilla's government is unable or unwilling to supervise its offshore financial scheme, and that status becomes public knowledge in the financial world, clients will correctly choose to do business elsewhere, and the local economy, which is dependent upon such business, could suffer a serious loss in necessary income.