Minister of Financial Services Wayne Panton has responded to recent comments made by Ed Miliband, the leader of opposition in the UK, in which he labelled jurisdictions such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands as tax havens.
Miliband also claimed that he had written to overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands to demand they form a public registry of beneficial ownership, a request Cayman has previously rejected on the basis that it already complies with all global transparency rules and the UK does not publish such information on itself.
The Cayman Islands government said it had not received such a letter. “Cayman therefore can respond only to media reports about Miliband’s insinuations regarding our beneficial ownership regime,” said Panton.
And he expressed surprise that Miliband seemed so misinformed.
“In short, Mr Miliband is wrong. How is he not aware that the OECD, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, the Financial Action Task Force, the G20, and the International Monetary Fund all disagree with his broad general statements?
“Cayman therefore finds itself in the position of repeating factual information that already is in the public domain, and as such is available to Mr Miliband and his advisers.”
Ed Miliband, Wayne Panton, Cayman Islands
