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Friday, 24 May 2013

THE CARIBBEAN TREASURE ISLANDS IN TROUBLE

Britain’s Caribbean dependencies have been hurt by economic stagnation, the war on tax havens and their own fiscal recklessness and corruption



LAST month McKeeva Bush, the ousted premier of the Cayman Islands, appeared in court to contest a string of charges, some stemming from alleged use of his government credit card in American casinos. His next date with the judge is in June. But in a general election on May 22nd voters delivered their own verdict: with most votes counted, it seemed they had re-elected Mr Bush to the West Bay seat he has held since 1984.
 
With or without the Bush affair, corruption would have been high on the list of election issues in a society where “everybody expects that you are going into politics to make your money”, as a former auditor-general recently put it. But there is plenty more to worry Caymanians and the inhabitants of Britain’s other remaining scraps of empire in the Caribbean: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Tourism and international finance have brought prosperity but the “twin pillars” are showing cracks. Fiscal fumbling has compounded the problem and has strained relations with Britain, which has long provided an economic backstop. The region’s two big tax havens, Cayman and the BVI, are under attack as never before.

The world economic slowdown hit these small, open economies hard. Tourism, the biggest employer, has rebounded but remains below its peak in some places. Arrivals by sea in the BVI were 667,000 last year, down from 802,000 in 2008. (A new dock capable of handling the largest cruise ships is expected next year and there are plans to upgrade the airport.) Finance, the biggest earner, is a mixed bag. Offshore shell-company registrations (a BVI speciality) are back near record levels. Hedge funds and banking (mostly Cayman) are down by 10-20%.

The real problem is not sagging revenues but public-sector profligacy, argues Gordon Barlow, a former head of the Cayman chamber of commerce. In 2005-09 growth in government spending averaged 12% a year as the civil service ballooned. The loss-making state-owned airline has sucked in subsidies equal to Cayman’s entire public debt, Mr Barlow estimates.

The Overseas Territories’ economic problems are not as severe as those of independent Jamaica and St Kitts and Nevis, which have had to restructure their debts. But the depletion of their reserve funds spooked Britain into imposing fiscal plans with borrowing limits last year. Negotiations have been difficult. Anguilla’s chief minister, Hubert Hughes, signed a pact last month, but not before accusing Britain of being “hell-bent on destroying the livelihood of the people”. He has called for an independence referendum.

In some cases Britain has pushed for income taxes to supplement the fees and indirect taxes that the territories rely on. But these do not go down well with footloose offshore types. Under pressure from the Foreign Office, Cayman’s government last year proposed a 10% levy for foreigners, who make up half the 38,000 workforce. This was scrapped when businesses squealed. Wary of scaring away business, the BVI has not raised the $350 fee for incorporation since 2004.

Avoiding fee rises is seen as important at a time when tax havens are under bombardment, especially from Europe. The five territories, Bermuda and others have been arm-twisted into backing a multilateral scheme for the automatic exchange of tax information. A longer-term threat is the growing international call for public registration of the “beneficial” (ie real) owners of companies and trusts. Standards must be applied evenly, says Orlando Smith, premier of the BVI, “otherwise, businesses will simply go to other jurisdictions.”

Offshore optimists note that China and Russia, whose citizens are big users of Caribbean havens, have not signed up to the information-sharing pact. But remaining attractive to clients while complying with ever more stringent international rules is “an increasingly difficult needle to thread”, says Andrew Morriss of the University of Alabama. No wonder the territories are trying to diversify away from finance, which in the BVI’s case accounts for 60% of government revenues. Anguilla is looking at fishing, Cayman toying with medical tourism. But hip replacements will not be as lucrative as hedge funds.

Britain is gently encouraging these efforts, while recognising that, as an official puts it, “There isn’t a long list of options.” It is trying to improve governance, too. After it threatened to veto a Cayman port project which had been awarded to a Chinese company without an open tender, bidding was restarted. Britain retains the power to block laws, suspend constitutions and dismiss governments. The Turks and Caicos constitution has been suspended twice, most recently in 2009 after an inquiry found “a high probability of systemic corruption”. This led to three years of direct rule by the British-appointed governor.

Putting your man in charge is one thing, putting money on the table quite another. To avoid it, Britain will have to play its hand carefully. It has to be seen to join the likes of France and Germany in taking a firm stand against offshore financial shenanigans, especially now that the prime minister, David Cameron, has made tax and transparency themes of this year’s G8 agenda. On May 20th he told Britain’s dependencies to “get [their] houses in order”. But if the havens lose their cash cow, they might have to go cap-in-hand to London. “Taxpayers Bail Out Tax Havens” is the last headline Mr Cameron wants to see.
 

Sunday, 12 May 2013

THEM LUNATICS AND JACKASSES DEBATE HOMOGENEOUS LEADERSHIP ON ANGUILLA

THE Anguilla Christian Council (acc) 

STATEMENT:

The Evangelical Association and the Anguilla Christian Council condemn the disrespectful statements that were made about the Hon. Chief Minister of Anguilla Mr. Hubert Hughes at a public meeting over the weekend.

The Chief Minister was referred to as “a lunatic” at a meeting of the Anguilla United Front which was held in the vicinity of the Tyre Shop in George Hill on Saturday evening, 4th May 2013. The word “lunatic” was used several times by Mr. Curtis Richardson in reference to the Hon. Chief Minister. At another meeting held by the Anguilla United Front some months ago, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Evan McNeil Rogers referred to the Hon. Chief Minister as a “Jack Donkey”. We, the members of the clergy, find this type of language distasteful and disrespectful.

Let there be no doubt that we are also concerned about outrageous and unbecoming language directed at persons by the Hon. Chief Minister and Members of his Cabinet. We would like for all disrespectful language and rhetoric to be discontinued. We are not partisan and will not take a partisan position. As clergy in this Christian society, we expect better behaviour of our citizens generally, especially citizens who offer themselves for political leadership.

At a time when many of us are very concerned about lawlessness and general disrespect in our society, better behavior is expected of our politicians and political aspirants. Society, in general, and our youth, in particular, are looking to our leaders to set the moral and ethical tone for our island. Hence, we condemn this behavior by our politicians and political aspirants.

May God continue to guide us as we aspire to higher moral and ethical standards on Anguilla.

THE ANGUILLA UNITED FRONT (AUF)

PRESS RELEASE:

On Saturday 4th May 2013 the Anguilla United Front held a public meeting in George Hill, which outlined the many issues facing Anguillians today. The members of the AUF received generally positive feedback from Anguillians about this meeting. The meeting also generated negative comments from some talk shows and generally in the media. The Anguilla Christian Council (ACC) and the Evangelical Association (EA) also issued a joint statement with respect to the public meeting after being contacted by some persons in the community.

Firstly, let it be known that the AUF has always maintained and will continue to maintain an excellent relationship with the ACC and the EA. The statement issued by the ACC and the EA was in reference to two (2) specific words used by two (2) members of the AUF, the Hon Evans McNiel Rogers and Mr. Curtis Richardson in reference to the Chief Minister. The members of the AUF take on board the comments in the Press Release.


The AUF also remains firm in its belief that the office of the Chief Minister must not only be respected by citizens and everyone else, but likewise by each holder of that said office in what he/she says or does. The question we pose is: Does our current Chief Minister, Hon. Hubert Hughes, respect the high office which he now holds? We also ask the question: Does the Chief Minister have respect and show respect for the people of Anguilla in general and to public and private sector officials with whom he has to interact and undertake various transactions in discharging the functions and duties?

Over the last 3 ¼ years, all of Anguilla has been bombarded with demeaning, derogatory, insulting and offensive statements made by the Chief Minister, his members of Government and his key supporters against senior civil servants, the Governor, the Attorney General, the Deputy Governor, investors, teachers, ordinary citizens and certainly not least of all, the members of the Anguilla United Front. Many such statements were made in the House of Assembly (in which there is immunity from prosecution for statements made) and in the general media.

Specific examples include the attack on teachers in the House of Assembly and many references to our Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly, Hon. Evans Rogers, being imbibed, many references to the AUF Party Leader Victor Banks as being corrupt, and derogatory statements about developers . Such statements as far as the AUF can ascertain have not been met with any outcry from non-political and neutral organizations, whose purposes are the uplifting of the Anguillian community. What the members of the AUF would like to see is a greater degree of evenhandedness from the ACC and the EA in matters such as this.

No derogatory statement should be acceptable, whether it is against the Chief Minister, a member of the Anguilla United Movement, a member of the Anguilla United Front or the ordinary man and woman in Anguilla. Respect must be due all persons, regardless of who they are and where they come from. We have a choice always to vigourously disagree on issues. Demeaning, unfair, excessive and false verbal attacks should be condemned consistently and without bias and with even-handedness.

The attack on the teachers should have been condemned. The personal attacks on Mr. Rogers should have
been condemned, as well as many other statements made by members of the AUM/APP Government over the last few years.

What we in the AUF would like to pursue is the opportunity to usher in a new era, a new age where offensive, derogatory statements about people, their characters and family members are a thing of the past. Our focus should be on the actions and/or inactions of our Government of the day and other persons; their abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The AUF has requested a meeting with both the ACC and the EA to discuss these matters in greater detail.

Until we, as the Anguillian community, achieve the goal of a more civil discourse in our politics and in our interactions with each other in the normal activities of the Anguillian community, the AUF hopes and expects that the ACC and the EA will continue to be outspoken and assertive in an even handed and timely manner.

God Bless You and God Bless Anguilla.