Cayman News Service Archive (2008-2014) (2025)

Cayman is insolvent

No, you didn’t read that incorrectly. Cayman is insolvent, bust, broke, unable to pay its debts.This is not a rumour, this is fact. This fact is confirmed by the speaking notes used by the Hon. McKeeva Bush for a meeting held with senior Cayman civil servants, government boards and private sector business leaders last Thursday (27 Aug).

So desperate is the current crisis that the Caymans turned to the UK to cover September’s deficit, and have been politely told they may not borrow the necessary funds to pay wages and other commitments in that month. The letter saying so is here. That means just one thing: Cayman is insolvent. It cannot pay its debts. The UK has refused to let Cayman borrow because it does not believe it will cut government spending and it has seen no commitment by Cayman to raise taxes. And the UK makes it clear in no uncertain terms that is exactly what it thinks Cayman should do.

Look at what he (Chris Bryant) is saying:

1. The US is fragile;
2. The hedge fund business is fragile;
3. The G20 will have an impact;
4. The Foot Commission will have an impact;
5. Trust fund income will fall;
6. Cayman cannot assume it will keep tax haven status;
7. Taxes must be imposed.

It’s hard to see how much more could have been said to make clear that Cayman’s business model is dead.

This is extraordinary. Bear in mind Cayman has the thirteenth highest GDP per head in the world, and the highest in the Caribbean. It has more multinational corporation subsidiaries than any other tax haven. It has more banks than any other tax secrecy jurisdiction, and more hedge funds too. And it is bust.

So what are they proposing to do? Unbelievably all proposed taxes are on ordinary people in Cayman:

• Imposing taxes on money transfers from foreign workers in Cayman, – Jamaicans being the biggest group;
• Introducing property taxes;
• Revision to various miscellaneous fees, some of which have remained unchanged for decades;
• Increasing customs duties;
• Increasing alcohol and tobacco duties;
• Increasing gasoline tax;
• Legislate the requirement for money in dormant bank accounts to be turned over to the Government; and the
• Introduction of a national lottery

That is grossly unfair on the poor in Cayman (the very people the UK says should be protected), shows no real broadening of the tax base but does, most of all, look like rearranging the deck chairs as the ship is sinking. Which is extraordinary by itself in two ways. First, for a place supposedly so clever this is a remarkably poor list of initiatives, and second it does of course say yet again that the vested interest of wealth is being protected.

The odd thing is that is not possible in this situation. If Cayman really is insolvent, and that seems likely, then it is very clear that law and order may fail, property rights may not be protected, and so on. Wealth, in other words, is under real threat and such is the size of Cayman activity I doubt much of it can get out in a hurry without causing massive instability.

So this really is a crisis at the heart of the whole tax haven / secrecy jurisdiction system. The totem of the offshore location is seeing its business model fail, and with it the whole edifice of offshore – including the whole hedge fund edifice that claims to be built around this small island, could fall with it.

This could be a Lehman scale failure.

And all for the sake of a few dollars. But a few dollars none the less the UK will not let them have.

Watch this unfold: if London sticks to its guns (and it should) then Cayman is over as a tax haven – as they themselves predict. The fall out will be enormous. The whole hidden economy could fall apart with it – and do not think that will not have onshore ramifications, because it will.

Richard Murphy is a founder of the Tax Justice Network and director of Tax Research LLP. An expert on tax policy, he writes a daily blog which provides regular news on his activities and opinions at www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/

Continue Reading

MCRU issues warning over mosquito breeding

(CNS): Following leaked information that suggested the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) would not be engaging in its aerial spraying campaign because of government cuts in overtime, the unit has issued a press release telling residents to take proper control measures around their homes to reduce breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has the potential to transmit dengue fever, and greater vigilance on the part of residents would complement the unit’s routine vector control exercises aimed at eliminating these potentially dangerous mosquitoes.

MRCU Research Manager Fraser Allen said the MRCU survey officers continually perform house-to-house inspections throughout the island paying particular attention to highly populated areas such as George Town and West Bay. Allen explained that containers are treated with larvicides to kill the mosquito larvae or are overturned to prevent collection of rain water which would initiate breeding. Surfaces where the adult mosquito might rest are also treated with adulticide sprays by the survey crews.

Despite those efforts however, public action is still necessary to keep the mosquito population in check, save resources and prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

“Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae thrive in home settings, particularly in containers such as flower pots, vases and water troughs which may hold fresh rain water for extended periods of time,” Allen said, improperly discarded garbage such as old tyres collect rain water, also facilitating the breeding of the Aedes aegypti larvae.

“The fact that these mosquitoes breed mostly in domestic environments and as a result of human activity, gives residents a major role to play in eliminating the insect. By taking simple actions such as emptying water vessels regularly and punching holes in old household items prior to disposal, residents can prevent breeding and reduce the chance of a dengue fever outbreak in the Cayman Islands,” Allen advised.

Turning over buckets and placing a screen cover over drums used in water collection residents would assist with at least 60% of the control of this mosquito throughout the islands. While Cayman has not had a major incidence of this mosquito-borne disease, Allen pointed to outbreaks in a number of regional countries last year including Jamaica and Cuba.

“Although Cayman remains one of the few Caribbean countries in which local transmission of dengue fever does not occur, widespread regional travel means that from time to time, we do see a number of dengue cases in returning residents or visitors.

“Infected persons travelling to Cayman present a real possibility of local transmission,” Allen said, adding that this reinforces the need for precautionary measures.

Continue Reading

Travers says UK ‘No’ all about competition

(CNS): The UK decision to withhold its permission for the Cayman Islands government to utilize the loan it has secured for the 2009/10 budget is Anthony Travers’s says designed to disadvantage the jurisdiction. In his latest foray to promote Cayman in the media, the Chair of CIFSA told the international news agency Reuters that the move is all about competitive rivalry in financial services at a time when the UK sector itself is under threat.

The OT minister’s refusal was sent to the government last month and the Leader of Government Business will be approaching Chris Bryant with a number of proposals to raise revenue this week, none of which include taxation. However, if Bryant refuses the government may not be able to meet September’s Civil service salary roll or pay any bills. Travers said the UK refusal was part of another agenda.

"We believe there is another agenda, which seems to have more to do with the competition for financial services and concern that unreasonable tax rates in G20 countries will cause an exodus of people and financial services companies," said Travers who is also head of the Cayman Islands’ Stock Exchange.

Speaking to Reuters this week Travers explained that three banks had been lined up to lend $275 million to government and that while Cayman is predominantly self-governing it still needs the British government’s permission if it increases borrowings above a certain threshold.

Reuters observed that Cayman has suffered from increasing pressure from G20 governments in recent months with it said the future of offshore locations remaining uncertain. The news agency wrote that Cayman is reliant on financial services and tourism, both of which have been hit heavily by the financial crisis.

Travers confirmed the problem and said income from hedge funds on the Cayman Islands has dropped by up to 40 percent, bringing it to similar levels seen in 2005. This has lead to many offshore locations reviewing their long-term business models. Travers said the Cayman Islands is looking to bulk out its service providers on the islands through cutting red tape and encouraging an inflow of talent.But in the short term, the government of the Cayman Islands is focused on plugging the deficit gap.

Travers said the government is reviewing a number of options which include public finance initiatives due to much of the debt burden stemming from the overrunning of two large school projects.Other measures include reviewing the introduction of gambling or a lottery, and increasing taxes on tobacco and alcohol, as talks continue between the UK government and the Cayman Islands, he added.

Continue Reading

Tempura flaws exposed

(CNS): Scotland Yard Investigators made up their minds over Operation Tempura within three days of their arrival in the Cayman Islands, former police commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, revealed in court on Thursday. Testifying via video link from the UK at the Lyndon Martin trial, Kernohan said he was extremely concerned when he realised what approach the first two undercover officers were taking so soon after they had arrived to begin an investigation into alleged leaks from the RCIPS to Cayman Net News.

Speaking publically for the first time since he was suspended, the former commissioner told the court that he had been instrumental in bringing the outside investigation team to Cayman following the accusations that had been made about the possibility that Anthony Ennis, his deputy commissioner, was leaking sensitive information to Desmond Seales. But the former senior RCIPS officer said he soon had very serious reservations about their conduct and the process of their investigation.

Kernohan revealed that, although information regarding the leak had come via word of mouth from Lyndon Martin and John Evans, no further progress could be made without some kind of documented evidence. He explained that at that point there was not even enough evidence to apply for a search warrant for the Net News offices.

Having consulted with the governor, the attorney general and the FCO’s OT security officer, Larry Covington, Kernohan explained that a decision was made to bring in a team from Scotland Yard in London, which arrived in Cayman in September 2007. The team later came to be known as the Special Police Investigation Team (SPIT) when Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) Martin Bridger retired from the Met and a number of other team members, which numbered up to a dozen officers at one time, were recruited from outside Scotland Yard.

Martin’s defence attorney, Trevor Burke QC, asked Kernohan about his first meeting with the two UK SPIT officers, who the ex-commissioner said he went to meet three days after they arrived. Burke suggested that Kernohan had a number of reservations from the get-go regarding the early conclusions made by SIO Bridger and his deputy, Simon Ashwin, and the rationale for what they had decided. Kernohan agreed and told the court he was “very concerned” and confirmed that almost the first words from Ashwin on meeting Kernohan had been, “Now, what about this burglary?”

He expressed his concerns that they were getting things horribly wrong so early in the investigation because of a lack of objectivity and they had already made up their minds in just a few days of being on island. John Evans’ entry into Net News, Kernohan confirmed, could by no stretch of the imagination ever be called a burglary. “At the very first meeting I had with them they had spoken to no witnesses and they had already reached the conclusion it was a burglary,” he said. “It was clearly a fundamental error from the outset,” he noted, adding it was not something one would expect from professional police officers.

Kernohan said from that moment on he became apprehensive that the integrity of the investigation could be brought into question because of the rash conclusions and their lack of objectivity. The court heard how Bridger and Ashwin had dismissed Martin as a credible source, adopted Evans as a truthful witness, vindicated Ennis and placed Desmond Seales in the role of victim within days of arriving, having talked to no one.

Kernohan confirmed that he was officially distanced from the investigation by the governor, so there was no real supervision of the SPIT officers. The court heard that in January 2008 Kernohan had written to the then Chief Secretary, George McCarthy, in confidence about his concerns regarding the Operation Tempura officers and their overall behaviour, as they were serving as special constables in the RCIPS. Kernohan had alerted McCarthy to the officers’ conduct, the decisions that were being made, the early conclusions, the breach of local procedures and protocols, and above all that there was simply no oversight of their operation.

Burke suggested that Kernohan’s memo to McCarthy had been “something of a prophecy” as he had warned that the reputation of the Cayman Islands and the integrity of the original investigation were at risk without proper oversight of the investigators. Kernohan emphatically agreed that this was indeed the unfortunate outcome.

The former commissioner also noted that Bridger’s technique of taping witness statements and then writing them up later from the tapes himself was vulnerable to abuse and had also given him cause for concern. Burke asked if this had been aptly illustrated with the unlawful arrest of Grand Court Judge Alex Henderson, which was based on Bridger’s written version of John Evans’ statement and not the actual testimony that Evans had given. Kernohan agreed and said he had been very worried by this technique and he would not be interviewed that way as he insisted he would want to write his own statement.

Kernohan also revealed to the court that he was still not entirely sure exactly what the criminal allegations were against him and why Bridger had in February 2008 sought a search warrant for Kernohan’s house on two occasions, which had been refused by the chief justice. Kernohan, who confirmed he was suspended from his job in March 2008 and dismissed in November 2008, said he could not reveal any more because of his own pending civil suit.

Kernohan did confirm that the he had instigated the outside investigation because, from his own UK experience, any internal questions of a specific force would be investigated by the Police Complaints Commission or would be handed to another regional force. And he was aware that the only way an internal RCIPS investigation could take place would be with outside help.

Kernohan confirmed that, as Martin was reluctant to go public with what were serious allegations, he was frustrated in his investigations into the RCIPS leak even before it started as he had no hard evidence. He acknowledged it was a particularly sensitive investigation because it was a newspaper. However, he said he was not too concerned about what Desmond Seales may have thought if he had succeeded in securing a search warrant.

During his time on the video-link stand Kernohan confirmed that he had received a separate allegation from John Evans that Ennis was Seales’ source on the disparaging stories about the helicopter, as well as concerns from the now leader of government business and then opposition leader, McKeeva Bush, that Ennis was leaking to Net News. Kernohan said he had met Bush at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where Bush had told him that “the bald one” was leaking information to Seales. He went on to confirm that the main allegations had originally been made by Martin to Rudolph Dixon.

Continue Reading

Moodys says it’s watching Cayman’s cash trouble

(CNS): Credit ratings agency Moody’s says it is carefully monitoring developments in the Cayman Islands and the possible implications for the government’s triple A ratings and at present the outlook on the ratings remains stable. In a press release theglobal standard agency said that the recent revelations about the state of public finances had captured its attention along with the Cayman Islands Government request to the UK to extend borrowing levels beyond those laid out in the Public Management and Finance Law.

“For the first time in the territory’s history, the government made an explicit request to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in order to increase its debt levels,” said Alessandra Alecci, Vice President–Senior Analyst in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. “The request was necessary because some of the principles in the territory’s Public Management and Finance Law were violated last year, also an unprecedented development given traditional adherence to the fiscal responsibility law.”

Alecci added in the press release that the main reasons for the violations were falling revenues due to a drop in tourism and other services’ income and higher expenditures associated with a one-off ambitious capital expenditure programme. Among the principles violated Moody’s observed correctly was maintaining an operating surplus in the government budget.

Noting the UK’s initial refusal to Cayman’s request to increase government debt until a medium-term strategy was established to create sustainable revenues in the longer term, Moodys still said it believed based on history, Cayman had a stable outlook with it said, “the expectation of a significant improvement in fiscal outturns once the capital program is completed.”

Moody’s said it believed Cayman’s fiscal trouble was down to one off projects and would soon recover as it was looking into a number of expenditure and revenuemeasures to address the FCO’s concerns.“In addition, the government is contemplating changes to the financing of its capital programme, which might include private finance initiatives that would both limit the need for additional public debt and boost liquidity. The government plans to present its revised plans to the FCO over the next couple of weeks before the budget is presented.”

The ratings agency said that the developments were not a complete surprise. “In a report published in June this year, Moody’s discussed the deterioration in public finances and the sharp increase in the Cayman Islands’ debt levels, which reached close to 20% of GDP during the 2009 fiscal year, double the size just a few years prior,” it said. “While this level of debt is still highly affordable, it is higher than the average such debt ratios in Cayman Islands’ Aa peers.’

The agency noted that the UK is concerned about Cayman’s “unusual tax structure” with no direct taxes but revenue coming from import duties and license fees on off-shore entities.

However the agency was less concerned: “Given the islands’ long history of fiscal prudence, Moody’s views the significant widening of the central government deficit during 2004/2005 (when the costs associated with Hurricane Ivan were incurred) and subsequently as being more the result of extraordinary circumstances than a fundamental policy shift away from fiscal conservatism,” said Alecci. “However, we will be monitoring the situation to confirm that these are only temporary deviations.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that Moody’s parent company, Moody’s Corp, saw its shares plunge after a US district judge in New York ruled late Wednesday that Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s can’t invoke the 1st Amendment to hide from subprime-related legal challenges, forcing the credit ratings firms to respond to fraud charges in a class-action by investors claiming the raters hid the risks of securities linked to subprime mortgages.

Defaults on the debt ignited a credit crisis that has led to more than $1.6 trillion in writedowns and losses since the start of 2007.

Continue Reading

Eastern cops nab another burglar

(CNS): A teenager has been charged with burglary and other offences this week following a spate of break-ins in the eastern districts. Roland Welcome, 19, who appeared in court facing charges of burglary, handling stolen goods, failing to provide a urine specimen and various traffic offences has been remanded in custody detectives from the eastern districts said on Thursday. These charges come in the wake of charges laid against another teenager last week for similar offences which occurred in the eastern part of Grand Cayman.

Police said that the RCIPS is working hard to tackle burglaries, which includes having burglary teams in operation across the Island, holding regular road checks to disrupt criminal’s movements on the road and targeting known offenders.

Police also reminded residents to play their part in addressing property crime by ensuring their homes and property are secure and by recording the serial numbers of electronic and high value goods.

Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.

Continue Reading

Bank says sell US assets

(Bloomberg): Wegelin & Co Switzerland’s oldest bank, is telling wealthy clients to sell their U.S. assets, or switch banks, because of concerns new rules will saddle investors with tax obligations in the world’s biggest economy. U.S. proposals to extend reporting requirements for banks whose clients buy American stocks and bonds coupled with estate tax liabilities that may be inherited by the heirs of people who have such holdings prompted the advice from the St. Gallen, Switzerland-based bank, said Managing Partner Konrad Hummler.

(Bloomberg): Wegelin & Co Switzerland’s oldest bank, is telling wealthy clients to sell their U.S. assets, or switch banks, because of concerns new rules will saddle investors with tax obligations in the world’s biggest economy. U.S. proposals to extend reporting requirements for banks whose clients buy American stocks and bonds coupled with estate tax liabilities that may be inherited by the heirs of people who have such holdings prompted the advice from the St. Gallen, Switzerland-based bank, said Managing Partner Konrad Hummler.

Go to article

Continue Reading

Witness loses cool in court

(CNS): Problems with witnesses mounted for the prosecution during the Lyndon Martin trial on Wednesday, when straight on the heels of one key Crown witness telling the jury the defendant had done nothing wrong, another entered into a confrontation with the defence counsel and stuck his tongue out in the court. Desmond Seales, the publisher of Cayman Net News, denied having a corrupt relationship with RCIPS Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis as suspected by Martin, but his behaviour in the courtroom was called into question by the judge on at least two occasions.

Seales took the stand on Wednesday afternoon, following the declaration by key prosecution witness, John Evans, that he did not believe Martin had done anything wrong and should not be on trial. Seales remained calm and composed during questioning by the prosecuting attorney, Andrew Radcliffe QC, denying ever receiving leaked information from the Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis or ever implying to anyone he had a relationship with Ennis. He told the court that he had never told anyone that Ennis was a source for news.

However, within minutes of the cross examination by defence attorney, Trevor Burke QC, Seales’ behaviour became volatile and defensive and during the questioning the presiding judge, Roy Anderson, was forced to speak with Seales about the need for respectful behaviour in the courtroom.

When Burke began his examination he asked Seales, if he was ever offered information from a senior police officer whether he would accept it. Seales agreed he would and that he would not see that as a crime. He said, however, that he would not protect that source or any other source that gave him confidential information. Burke queried if informants would ever be safe telling him anything, and Seales confirmed that he would reveal sources as he had done with regard to former tourism minister, Charles Clifford.

When Burke then suggested that Seales would therefore be willing to give up his secrets, Seales became angry towards legal counsel, asking what the lawyer was inferring about secrets and that he should say what he meant. Seales volunteered that John Evans was a liar, and when asked by Burke in what sense, he said “in a truthful sense” as Evans he said had “lied abut the truth".

When pressed to name what lies Evans had told, Seales said, “Name one, name one ..well… that he said there were secret documents in my office and that I had a red box file,” Seales said in an agitated manner. “He is a liar.”

When Burke asked Seales if he had changed a story written by Evans about the helicopter, Seales loudly denied it and insisted that Evans had done it himself. When asked if that was the case, why Evans had then sent an apology to the police Commissioner, Seales declared: “If he did that well … he had no authority to do that!” Seales also insisted that Evans had never complained about changes to the story and that it was a “downright lie".

Moving on to issues concerning Anthony Ennis, Burke asked Seales if Ennis had threatened legal action against him and his newspaper in 2006 because of an article which Ennis claimed set him in an unfavourable light. Seales said if he had, he would join the queue and indicated to the court that he was not entirely aware if there was legal action but it was something that happened all the time.

When Burke pressed him several times about how many other senior police officers were taking legal action against him in that year, Seales evaded the question and again became very agitated as he continued trying to avoid answering. Eventually, he said maybe the former commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, had made some threats but he didn’t think so, at which point Seales stuck his tongue out at the lawyer.

Seales’ continued to appear uncomfortable as Burke asked him about his opinion of Ennis and whether he believed he should be the Ccommissioner. Seales refused to offer his opinion and said it was not his place to comment and that as a newspaper editor he was supposed to be impartial. When asked again, Seales said to Burke, “I’m not going to give in to you,” and said he would keep to the tenets of journalism and keep an impartial view.

Moving on to Kernohan, however, Seales then offered his opinion and said that he had seemed to be doing a good job as commissioner but he began evading the questions again when Burke asked him his position on the helicopter purchase. At this point the presiding judge, Justice Roy Anderson, pointed out to Seales that everyone in the court aimed to be respectful towards each other and directed him to answer the questions to the best of his ability.

Asked about his role in stories in Net News, in particularly regarding the helicopter, Seales gave the impression that he did not decide stories, look at them before publication or necessarily read them at all. He said the news content was down to his editorial management and that he did not have “castrated or impotent writers” at Cayman Net News.

Burke asked Seales if he had read the stories about the helicopter which were critical of Kernohan and if he enquired of the journalists why those stories were running. Seales said that if he had read the story and he was satisfied it was fair then that would be the end of it and things would move to the next story.

When Burke suggested that Ennis was Seales’ source on the helicopter, he again became angry and asked the attorney if he was asking him a question. Once again Justice Anderson explained that the counsel had put a suggestion to him and Seales should agree or disagree.

“”Your suggestion is incorrect,” Seales told the court. When asked if he had called Ennis his boy, Seales said he never uttered the word and when Burke asked if he had boasted to anyone that Ennis was his source, Seales denied that too. Asked if he had told John Evans or Lyndon Martinthat Ennis was his source on a number of occasions, Seales said it was a blatant lie and said Martin was a second liar.

Following the exchange, Burke asked him if he knew Rudolph Dixon, to which Seales replied not very well and said he was unaware that Dixon had fathered a child with a Honduran woman. As Burke began asking Seales about stories in the press related to Dixon, Seales refused to accept from the lawyer that a story had been written by John Evans as there was no by-line. The attorney noted that Evans had accepted authorship of the piece but Seales burst back at the lawyer repeating that there was no by-line and that he would not take the lawyer’s word for it as he could not prove Evans wrote it as there was no-by-line.

Burke finished his cross-examination of Seales by asking him how well he knew convicted murderer Sheldon Brown. He confirmed that they had met in prison when Seales was serving time for what Burke described as “various offences of fraud".

Continue Reading

OECD to implement ‘peer review’ on tax

(Dow Jones): Officials at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s global forum on tax information exchange said the two-day meeting that concluded Wednesday made significant progress toward reducing future tax evasion and that a “peer review” process has been agreed. "The campaign for global tax transparency is in full flow," said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria at a press conference. Representatives of almost 90 jurisdictions – including major powers such as the U.S. and China but also small island tax havens such as the Cayman Islands – attended the forum.

Go to article

Continue Reading

Tax evasion doesn’t happen in Cayman says Travers

(CNS): Chair of the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association, Anthony Travers, has taken to the media circuit again this week promoting the country’s financial services sector. The Chair of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange told Bloomberg Television that tax evasion has been “off the table” in Cayman for more than a decade and that the jurisdiction was not a tax haven. He said the Cayman Islands was always surprised that it was characterized as such considering the treaties the jurisdiction has entered into over the years.

“We are actually somewhat surprised by the characterisation of the Cayman Islands as a tax haven given the record that we have with tax transparency and the treaties we have entered into over the past twenty years,” he said. We had a number of treaties particularly with the United States and 27 treaties under the European Union Savings Directive, none of which were brought into the calculation when the OECD brought out there list.”

He explained that Cayman had now entered into the right kind of treaties according to OECD and was now white listed but that really just re-established the status quo. Travers explained that the Cayman Islands was not a tax haven because it was not dependent on bank secrecy like Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland. Travers added that Cayman had no reason to be concerned about what was happening to business in those jurisdictions as it did not have the same banking model. Travers noted that increased transparency has always improved business flows into the Cayman Islands.

“The Cayman Islands has always been a tax transparent jurisdiction, it’s not a jurisdiction where people evade tax,” he said. “Tax evasion has been off the table as far as the Cayman Islands is concerned for well over ten years.”

Travers also noted said that the indirect tax regime which Cayman has relied upon for more than 200 years was unlikely to change despite the fact that the islands are facing a short term financial problem which required FCO approval for further borrowing.

See video here

Continue Reading