Privacy Oriented

…or at least that’s what the International Tax Review is reporting in their May 6th, 2008 article that can be found here. I could not determine how true this is just from the article. The statements they link to don’t show anything but the VFSC’s main page when I click the link.

Article excerpts follow.

Australia’s investigation of tax evasion by individuals and businesses has forced the Pacific tax haven of Vanuatu to reverse its long standing policy of banking secrecy.

As part of the operation called Project Wickenby, a long-running multi-agency inquiry into the abuse of offshore financial centres, Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers arrested a senior accountant, Robert Agius, in Perth in Western Australia.

Following the arrest of Agius, the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), the jurisdiction’s regulator, said that it would overturn its policy of banking secrecy. A complete overhaul of Vanuatu’s legal structure related to companies would be introduced shortly and put into force by the end of the year. Australia’s tax commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo has previously identified Vanuatu as the chief target of the tax office.

The commissioner of the VFSC, George Andrews, said the regulator would, in future, penalise Vanuatu institutions which provided services allowing Australian citizens and companies to avoid domestic tax. All company and trust service providers will be licensed by the VFSC and any breaches of regulation could lead to revocation of an operating licence.

That is sad and too bad. Why they don’t just sign some treaties and make some agreements with Australia and maybe New Zealand in the future, I don’t know. That’s what they should do. Don’t just throw it all away! Say it ain’t so, Vanuatu!

It is funny how the article mentions that the bank accounts they busted were set up with Westpac and ANZ, because those two banks aren’t covered by Vanuatu’s banking secrecy legistlation. They are domestic banks and only the offshore banks are protected (bound by secrecy laws).