The Stanford Asset Holdings' case on bank secrecy had been rejected by the Supreme Court when it demanded that AfrAsia Bank reveals the names of the alleged beneficiaries of the misappropriated funds. But it won its case before the Privy Council which ordered that bank secrecy be lifted. Now the authorities are being compelled to enforce the Law Lords’ decision.
Minister Seeruttun should be taking this case seriously because the abuse of the secrecy laws by shady companies and politicians, intent on hiding ill-gotten gains, continues to shed a bad light on our offshore sector . The pretext of protecting financial privacy- not to divulge information that they consider confidential even in cases of fraud- is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of banks/companies as collaborators of tax evaders and money launderers.
Is this deliberate or are they ignorant of the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and of the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act (FIAMLA) concerning bank secrecy in cases of fraud ?
Our Minister should come forward and inform the public about the investigations that were supposed to have been carried out by the FSC on the dealings of Stanford Asset Holding?
What has been the role of the most faithful among the faithful of the Jugnauth regime , the Maha Chatwa, our Hajee, in trying to contain another of our many offshore financial scams before it spilled over into the public landscape ?
We are the “dindons de la farce” , nou offshore pé koulé while zot pé kas fan entre fraudsters ek régulateurs naiba!
