Pacific Island Vanuatu To End Financial Secrecy Law - Report

Tom Burroughes

6 May 2008

The government of the Pacific island Vanuatu will scrap its secretive company law provisions within months as part of a legal overhaul aimed at abolishing the islandï¿½s reputation as an international tax haven, The Australian reported. The Vanuatu Financial Services Commission said the country would replace its company law secrecy provisions - which allow for the creation of companies with hidden owners and undisclosed cash deposits - by the end of the year. The move follows the arrest last week of 58-year-old Vanuatu-based Australian businessman Robert Agius, who is accused of masterminding a A$100 million ($95 million) offshore tax scam involving more than 400 people. VFSC commissioner George Andrews, who declined to comment on any matters before the courts, said yesterday that under proposed new legislation, the Pacific nation would crack down on all Vanuatu businesses that provided foreigners with local tax-haven accounts. "Our aim is to get genuine investors in and try to steer crooks out of Vanuatu," Mr Andrews told The Australian. "We've been associated with this stigma for a long time and we now aim to get away from being a tax haven," he said. According to the Australian Taxation Office, about A$5 billion flows from Australia to international tax havens each year, with about A$350 million of that destined for Vanuatu.