Jersey issued this comment on its government website yesterday:
Chief Minister meets UK Ministers to address constitutional concerns with amendments to Sanctions and AML Bill
The Chief Minister made the following statement after his meetings with UK Ministers today:
“Following meetings with UK Ministers and senior officials today, I am reassured that the UK Government recognises both our constitutional position and our strong track record on meeting international standards of transparency. As a result, the Government has tabled its own amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill passing through Parliament, that does not attempt to impose legislation on Jersey.
“This amendment, if passed, would properly respect our constitutional relationship. I believe this reflects Jersey's leading position in having already established registers of beneficial ownership and effective procedures for information sharing that prevent the island from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing. If public registers were to become an international standard, we will consider implementing such a policy in the same way as we have other international standards in this area.
“The speed with which the UK Government has intervened on this issue demonstrates the value of our close co-operation and our centuries of shared heritage.”
I have to disagree. I think it shows the current government's dedication to supporting the City of London and its spider's web of secrecy jurisdiction that maintain a steady flow of untraceable funds to the UK.
Today we will find out on which side parliament sits on this issue.
In the meantime Jersey delivers the standard excuses for inaction that undermines the level playing field in the international tax system and any vestige of fair competition, which makes them somewhat dubious friends of the free markets they claim to believe in.
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UK ministers will no doubt be getting their tails twisted by those invisible establishment figures (who only exist in the imagination of conspiracy theorists) …to make quite sure the dirty linen stays in the tumble drier and doesn’t get hung out on the line for the neighbours to see.
Parliamentary voting figures will perhaps indicate just how many of our parliamentarians have their undies in the wash.
It might be more than we think. Perhaps we’ll find out or perhaps we’ll have to keep guessing a while longer.
Andy, the image you have conjured up is brilliant.
I don’t know Richard, you get excited so quickly when these stories emerge and then have to always back down and blame the Government when the story takes a turn and never goes your way.
And you know that since 2005 every single win has been in my direction
The JEP quotes me for a reason
I can take my progress in steps if need be, but whatever happens today it’s progress and you’re losing again
I can live with that
I have always been in this for the long term
And I am quite sure I will celebrate the day when your secrecy is shattered
Richard I work in the Finance Industry in Jersey, we employ more people than ever and we cannot get enough people to cope with the business coming in.
So your Blog and its perpetual negative views is an enigma to us.
I suspect the apartheid police in SA were as bemused by campaigns to free Mandela
James says:
“So your Blog and its perpetual negative views is an….. enigma [?] to us.”
I venture to suggest ‘anathema’ is the word you were looking for 🙂
I haven’t detected anything very enigmatic about Richard’s views.
If you have, I suspect you’re not paying attention.
Curses….I’d always wanted to be mysterious
Most would say direct though
“Curses….I’d always wanted to be mysterious”
Fifteen thousand blog posts …….. not an orthodox approach to maintaining an air of mystery so ….perhaps paradoxically you get the cigar after all. 🙂
I may be mistaken but the “rebellion” indicated by the long list of names on one of the amendments limits itself to inclusion of the British Overseas Territories in the British(-) unilateral public transparency initiative, although others with fewer names do attempt to remedy this shortcoming.
Mr Gorst at this particular moment should rightly be interpreted as speaking largely for himself. If I were speaking to him I would tell him he should be pleased to add his name to the rebellion (if constitutionally he could) in the true spirit of a NIMBY who sees this as bestowing significant comparative advantage over those BOT competitors, particularly the BVI.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2017-2019/0176/amend/sanctions_daily_rep_0430.1-7.html#top
I think you need to read the Bill,as a whole
I’m not sure that advice has caused me to reconsider my observation, which is about (public) transparency:
The Hodge amendment “Public registers of beneficial ownership of companies registered in British Overseas Territories”
Member’s explanatory statement. This new clause would require the Secretary of State to take steps to provide that British Overseas Territories establish publicly accessible registers of the beneficial ownership of companies.
The Goodman amendment “Public registers of beneficial ownership of companies in the Crown Dependencies”.
The Jersey position in the past (since the end of the potato/milk/tourism dependency era anyway) has, to my mind, never been a principled one but rather a “realistic” one. There are criminals and scoundrels out there needing to be serviced and if we don’t do it someone else will. My favourite example is the justification of the Unregulated Exchange Traded Fund (2007-2017….) regime, which even the Jersey authorities agree was subsequently the subject of “historic misuse”.
I agree it is a two step approach
There is a reason for that
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