Cayman Islands most prominent destination for laundering money: Study

Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is one of top destinations for hiding or laundering money, according to a study by Tax Justice Network, which was published on ir official website. United States and Switzerland also do most to help globe's richest citizens to hide and launder money. According to reports, authors also noted that Cayman Islands was also a part of what it dubbed Britain's 'Spider web' of satellites, where London influences laws and appointment of officials. 

study, which tests how much countries' legal and financial systems enable hiding of wealth by checking on money-laundering laws, controls and amount of financial activity in a country, furr ranked Cayman Islands as most prominent centre for financial secrecy. Cayman Island reportedly also hosts more than 100,000 companies, a number that outstrips local population. Furrmore, European Union finance ministers have ded territory to EU's blacklist of tax havens, along with Panama, Seychelles and Palau. 

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Cayman Islands disagrees

Cayman Islands government, however, did not agree with TJN study. government reportedly said that study has ignored fact that it met global standards and it did not work 'in secret'. y furr ded that y even cooperated with authorities around world. British government has reportedly also said that it was driving greater tax transparency globally and that Cayman Islands was free to set its own taxes. 

Cayman Islands will now be joining Fiji, Oman, Samoa, Trinid and Tobago, Vanuatu and three US territories of American Samoa, Guam, and US Virgin Islands, on “non-cooperative” list. EU members also believe that Cayman Islands has failed to introduce necessary legislation to dress problems identified by Brussels. According to EU document furr said that British oversee territory of Cayman islands were included because investment funds based re did not reflect real economic activity on archipelago. 

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TJN study also singled out United States for not doing enough to stamp out illicit money flows at home and flagging secretive shell companies in some states. study furr put Switzerland in third place in its ranking and noted that its bank secrecy reform to share financial information with foreign authorities applied largely to rich countries rar than poor ones. Although Swiss government reportedly said that it applied international standards and that its achievements were recognised by pan-national bodies. 

(With agency inputs)

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