STAR Businessweek - 9 December 2017

THE STAR BUSINESSWEEK DECEMBER 9, 2017

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GRENADA ELECTION AS A KEY TEST FOR PREDICTABLE POLITICS IN THE ERA OF UNCERTAINTY

BY ED KENNEDY, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT

Prime Minister of Grenada Keith Mitchell will soon call an election that will see his governing New National Party (NNP) seek a second term following its election to office in 2013.

The election date is to be called for a date of Prime Minister Mitchell’s choosing but is constitutionally required to occur by June 25, 2018 in the nation of 107,000 people.

Continued on page 4

Foreign passports offer little protection for China’s elite

Like many wealthy Chinese businesspeople seeking an insurance policy against their capricious if often profitable political system, Xiao Jianhua acquired foreign citizenship.

Page 3

EU puts 17 countries on tax haven blacklist

EU finance ministers have blacklisted 17 countries for refusing to cooperate with its crackdown on tax havens but have welcomed reform promises from 47 other nations.

Page 7

“It will be important that Mitchell (pictured) and the NNP make a case for why their party should win another term, rather than doing a victory lap.”

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KEEPING UP WITH COMPLIANCE

Saint Lucia’s financial institutions keep pace with tightening compliance standards

BY CATHERINE MORRIS, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT

The STAR Businessweek

BY CHRISTIAN WAYNE – EDITOR AT LARGE Exactly one month ago, The STAR Businessweek carried news of the Paradise Papers, a trove of over 13 million confidential financial documents vividly illustrating the largely legal, yet somewhat aggressive, tax-minimization strategies of some of the world’s most well-known and wealthiest corporations and individuals.

The members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists pored over the leaked documents for approximately a year before publishing them last month in a coordinated media blitz involving over 150 journalists and some of the world’s largest news organisations.

The Paradise Papers is certainly not the ICIJ’s first major story, having come just on the heels of last year’s scathing exposé dubbed the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers leak, which depicted the fraudulent company formation practices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, a firm that manages over 300,000 companies and, according to the ICIJ and investigators, facilitated billions of dollars in corrupt dealings by corporations and sleazy politicians, is very different than that of the Paradise Papers, insomuch as the majority of the practices published on Mossack Fonseca were blatantly illegal and resulted in allegations, investigations and even arrests spanning five continents.

The Paradise Papers, on the other hand, has elicited a somewhat different reaction from global society and regulators.

While the ICIJ maintains that its main goal is to raise awareness around income inequality, not a single illegal practice was outlined in the leak nor has a single allegation of ill-dealings been made against any of the parties involved. So, what was the point of leaking 1.4 terabytes of perfectly legal dealings?

Well, at the time of the leak, ardent advocates of tax-minimization such as DeVere Group and Appleby described the Paradise Papers as ‘much ado about nothing’. Others have gone as far as to suggest that it is no coincidence that the Paradise Papers were published only a few weeks before the Council of the European Union was set to release its first-ever tax haven blacklist, known formally as the non-cooperative tax jurisdictions list. Unlike the Panama Papers, that focussed on illegal activities and potential criminality, the Paradise Papers has instead drawn focus on the tax jurisdictions themselves, reducing a multifaceted, manifold discussion into a mere caricature that paints many Small Island Developing States as accomplices to systematic tax evasion on a global scale.

Even though the contrary may be true, early on Tuesday morning, while Prime Minister Allen Chastanet addressed the House of Parliament on Saint Lucia’s Jack Grynberg problem (see Rick Wayne’s article in The STAR Newspaper), it was announced by the EU that Saint Lucia was named as non-cooperative on the notorious EU tax blacklist, along with sister islands Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago.

Be sure to read Keeping up with Compliance, our conversation with the Executive Director of Saint Lucia’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority, here on page 2.

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Transparency and compliance have become banking buzzwords in recent years. Pressure from global bodies such as the G20 have led to an era of regulatory restraint. First came the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which introduced an international standard for automatic exchange of information in relation to US taxpayers, followed by the wider-ranging Common Reporting Standard (CRS) - a global reporting framework developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Both FATCA and CRS are landmark pieces of legislation which have transformed the business model for offshore jurisdictions. Smaller island states have no choice but to keep up with the ever more stringent demands if they want to shed the ‘tax haven’ label and avoid being blacklisted. Saint Lucia found itself on one such blacklist earlier this week when the Council of the European Union published its list of noncooperative jurisdictions, naming and shaming those it felt had not done enough to prevent tax fraud and tax evasion. Saint Lucia was singled out for “harmful preferential tax regimes” and the country’s failure to apply minimum standards in Base Erosion and Profit Shifting minimum standards.

At press time J. Calixte Leon, Executive Director of Saint Lucia’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority, declined to comment on the blacklisting.

SHIFTING GOAL POSTS

The EU’s actions are just the latest in a long line of punitive tactics employed by international authorities who are constantly revising the rules. “It used to be a system of tax information exchange by request but the goal posts have shifted and the requirements now are for automatic exchange of information,” says Leon. “The standard keeps changing.

That is the problem we are facing. The international community is bearing down on us and no sooner do we think we have put in place the mechanisms to comply, than something else emerges. It is very hostile for smaller countries like ours with limited resources.”

Saint Lucia’s financial services industry is not only small, it’s also relatively young. The sector was first launched in 2000, passing a raft of legislation that not only provided a regulatory structure, but charted a course for the industry going forward. This suite of laws, passed in December 1999, included The International Business Companies Act (IBC); The International Trust Act; The International Mutual Funds Act; The International Insurance Act and The International Banks Act. Given the pace of change within the industry, however, legislation must be continually updated. In 2016 the government passed the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information Order to enshrine its commitment to tax transparency into domestic law. Saint Lucia has pledged

to begin reporting under the CRS in the second half of 2018.

Being up to speed with international obligations is crucial if Saint Lucia wants to fully develop the potential of its financial services sector, which currently encompasses 5,000 IBCs and eight international banks. Leon believes the industry has a lot to offer the country, saying: “Our approach to economic development was predicated on the tripod of manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. Now we are predominantly left with tourism. The next level of economic development is financial services. I believe there is scope for growth; however, the approach has to be different now because of the barrage of requirements and commitments that are being thrown at us.”

COLLABORATION

Leon would like to see the region take a united stance against international regulators who are placing an onerous burden on small island states, and offering little to no assistance. “We must find the resources to comply with international obligations that are not of our making. There are substantial costs,” he says and adds that the country will need to use a 30,000 EUR software system to implement CRS. “Instead of competing against each other in the Caribbean, what we should look at is how we, as a region, can pool our resources with a view to confronting international requirements that are thrust upon us and which individual countries may not have the resources to rebut. We are being done a disservice in this part of the world by the international community.”

Leon suggests that a united Caribbean would have more bargaining power on the world stage, and says the region has already demonstrated its willingness to work with regulators.

“We are being pitted against each other [because] we do not want to be blacklisted. We need a collective Caribbean response because we have all, mostly, satisfied the commitments. What more do we need to do?”

FUTURE GROWTH

According to Leon, what Saint Lucia needs to do is shore up its reputation as a compliant hub and identify areas of potential growth. He says captive insurance is a particular area of interest, calling it “the niche market for us”, and hopes to attract US captives in particular.

A thriving financial services sector could bring many benefits to the country as a whole, moving away from the traditional, stalling industries into a new economic era.

Leon says: “What we need to do now is ensure the integrity of the jurisdiction so that the effort at economic development is not only underpinned by tourism activity but also broadened to cover the financial services sector as a growth-promoting component of our economy. If we can manage that, there should be some benefit in the form of employment, generation of foreign exchange, infrastructure development and more.”

For now, Saint Lucia is focussing on next year’s adoption of CRS. This latest iteration of tax transparency may not be the last but the country is ensuring it meets today’s standards, in the hope that it will secure tomorrow’s business. The STAR Businessweek will continue to cover the sector as it evolves, bringing you the latest on how it’s developing and how growth in this vital area will impact Saint Lucia.

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© The Financial Times Limited [2017]. All Rights Reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in anyway. Star Publishing Company is solely responsible for providing this translated content and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation

FOREIGN PASSPORTS OFFER LITTLE PROTECTION FOR CHINA’S ELITE

BY FT CORRESPONDENT

Like many wealthy Chinese businesspeople seeking an insurance policy against their capricious if often profitable political system, Xiao Jianhua acquired foreign citizenship.

But if the billionaire investor thought that having Canadian citizenship and a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda would protect him from the powerful and ruthless Chinese security forces, he was sorely mistaken.

Mr Xiao’s abduction from Hong Kong two weeks ago by Chinese agents has both highlighted the growing demand for foreign passports and the lack of protection they provide to those who fall foul of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption and political rivals.

“It doesn’t matter if you have changed your passport because if you were a Chinese [national], they regard you as still a Chinese national,” said Kenneth Leung, an opposition member of Hong Kong’s legislative council. “When mainland interests are involved at a high level, and [there are] possible violations of the law in China, this could happen anywhere, not just in Hong Kong.”

One western diplomat described this “deliberate blurring of ethnicity and nationality” by the Chinese authorities as “deeply troubling”.

In recent years, rich Chinese have rushed to acquire residency and citizenship in jurisdictions where they hope to be beyond the reach of Beijing’s security services, while also potentially benefiting from lower tax rates, new investment opportunities and access to better education and healthcare for their families.

“There are tens of thousands of Chinese obtaining foreign citizenship every year,” said Denny Ko, an immigration lawyer in Hong Kong who advises rich Chinese clients, adding that Mr Xi’s crackdown has spurred an increase in applications over the past four years.

They can obtain residency in western nations such as Australia, the UK and the US by investing anywhere from a few hundred thousand to several million dollars. Some smaller nations such as

ELEBRITY

ER C HEADLIN

Xiao Jianhua had a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda, and Canadian citizenship but neither was a barrier to the Chinese authorities

Antigua, Cyprus and Grenada sell immediate access to citizenship for as little as $250,000, in some cases without needing to visit the country.

For example, more than 330 Chinese have applied to become Antiguan nationals since the Caribbean country of 94,000 launched its citizenship-by-investment scheme in 2013, making up more than 40 per cent of total applicants. Applications for such programmes from Chinese people have surged in other nations too, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund.

Chinese people also dominate the EB-5 visa scheme in the US, which offers permanent residency to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 and promise to create or preserve 10 full-time jobs. They accounted for more than 80 per cent of successful applicants in 2015, with more than 8,000 securing the EB-5 visa, up from only a few hundred in 2008.

China does not allow its citizens to have dual nationality and if they take up foreign citizenship of their own free will, they automatically lose their Chinese citizenship.

But in practice many wealthy Chinese do not declare that they have taken citizenship elsewhere, in order to maintain access to the many investment opportunities in China that are excluded to foreigners.

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“There are tens of thousands of Chinese obtaining foreign citizenship every year,” said Denny Ko, an immigration lawyer in Hong Kong who advises rich Chinese clients, adding that Mr Xi’s crackdown has spurred an increase in applications over the past four years.

At the same time, legal experts say that the Chinese authorities are happy to treat foreign citizens born in China as Chinese nationals if it suits their purposes.

“In the past, they thought dual nationality was not a good thing because it could encourage hidden traitors who are loyal to another sovereign,” said Donald Clarke, a professor of Chinese law at the George Washington University. “Now they are starting to think like monarchical governments of old: whether you are under our jurisdiction is for us to decide, not you.”

In a notice posted on the front page of a Hong Kong newspaper, which was purportedly from Mr Xiao but most probably from his family, he was quoted saying: “I am under the protection of the Canadian consulate and Hong Kong law” and that “I enjoy the rights of diplomatic protection”.

He was appointed ambassador-atlarge by the Antiguan prime minister Gaston Browne in 2015. Canada has confirmed that it is trying to “gather additional information and provide assistance” to its citizen. But other recent cases add to the belief that Mr Xiao’s alternative passports will provide little succour to a man whose whereabouts and status in China remain unknown.

The two Hong Kong booksellers abducted by Chinese security agents from Hong Kong and Thailand in 2015 were European citizens but the Chinese government described British passport holder Lee Bo as “first and foremost a Chinese citizen”.

Meanwhile, Swedish national Gui Minhai, who remains in custody at an unknown location, told Chinese state media in what were most likely forced confessions that “I still think of myself as a Chinese”.

Mr Ko, the immigration lawyer, said that while these incidents underlined the limitations of second passports, they will still encourage others to take preventive measures. “If the worst happens, they’d rather have a document that can be a lifesaver,” he said. “You don’t have to be a corrupt official yourself. Any reasonable businessman in China has links to some government officials and if they are brought down, you may be tainted and dragged into the case.”

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GRENADA ELECTION

as a Key Test for Predictable Politics in the Era of Uncertainty

BY ED KENNEDY, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT

Continued from page 1

With the conservative NNP having won all 15 seats in Grenada’s lower house, Mitchell’s promise in November that his party would “play very greedy” and prediction that his government could once again win it all, has set the stage for a high-stakes election against Senator Nazim Burke and Grenada’s other major party, the liberal National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The old and famous political adage ‘all politics is local’ surely rings true for Grenada.

But, in this turbulent era of our globalised world, every Caribbean election will impact well beyond national borders.

GRENADA RIGHT NOW

Having campaigned on a platform of ‘We will deliver’, Keith Mitchell won government in 2013 with the promise of bringing real change. It’s significant to note that Nazim Burke and the NDC will largely be unable to campaign in the same way.

Burke will not only need to make his party’s case for election, but also convince the electorate that the NDC learned from its previous mistakes in government that saw it suffer a resounding loss in the elections of 2013 under then-leader and prime minister Tillman Thomas.

Having served as the finance minister in Thomas’ government, Burke presided over a period of economic stagnation that, at its best, saw a growth of just 2.4% in 2013.

Burke will struggle to make inroads against Mitchell’s economic narrative ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, especially as Mitchell’s government has delivered annual growth as high as 7.3% per year during its term.

The successful implementation of

Mitchell’s Structural Adjustment Programme, alongside the praise his government has won from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its economic reforms, means that Mitchell’s government can cite national and global praise for its achievements.

This notwithstanding, its record is not perfect. While Mitchell has led a period of strong growth in the tourism and construction sectors, the high debt-to-GDP ratio that Grenada holds has been a limiter on public spending. And, given that Hurricanes Irma and Maria so powerfully showed the vulnerability of a tourism industry to natural disaster, it can be said that the performance of government in this area is impressive but certainly not invincible.

Having campaigned on a platform of ‘We will deliver’, Keith Mitchell won government in 2013 with the promise of bringing real change.

It’s significant to note that Nazim Burke and the NDC will largely be unable to campaign in the same way.

Prime Minister of Grenada Keith Mitchell will soon call an election that will see his governing New National Party (NNP) seek a second term following its election to office in 2013

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DECEMBER 9, 2017

Burke has sought to position Mitchell and his government as contemptuous of the Grenadian people, with “complete disregard to the constitution and basic laws”

Nonetheless, the strong performance of these private sectors, in tandem with the Mitchell government seeing a reduction in the unemployment rate from 33.5% in 2013 to 24%, means that, across the board, the Mitchell government has many reasons to anticipate its re-election. That’s exactly why this is such an unpredictable election for them.

WHAT DO THESE ISSUES SIGNIFY?

The upcoming election will not only tell a new chapter in the story of the Grenadian people, but show to what extent global political headwinds are blowing through our region. Whatever your view of Grenada’s government, it is undoubted that the Caribbean is not immune to these.

In fact, as the recent revelations within the Paradise Papers showed, by many measures our region is at the epicentre of global debates surrounding the growing rich-poor gap, government taxation, immigration and Citizenship by Investment Programmes (CIP) and a host of other global challenges that are each day playing out within our neighbourhood.

While Grenada has won praise for its handling of some of these issues - with the IMF calling Grenada’s CIP programme “the gold standard in the region for transparency”

- its prominent economic performance will also come with the expectation of greater regional leadership in these areas.

On a local level, as CARICOM chairman, Mitchell has pushed for greater regional integration. The greater globalisation of our local economy, the rise of multinational challenges like climate change, the ‘taxation question’ of accommodation providers like Airbnb in the tourism sector, and the capacity for more rapid coordination and deployment of aid resources when natural disaster strikes, all confirm greater regional cooperation is no longer an option as opposed to a necessity.

In this regard, Mitchell’s work as CARICOM chairman should see him stand in good stead as a strong regional leader. Ultimately though, it’ll be in Grenada that his leadership is voted upon.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

Grenada’s government is not the only Caribbean nation set for elections in 2018, with Barbados and the US Virgin Islands mandated, and an early election in St. Vincent and the Grenadines long mooted.

Even Cuba is set to undergo a change - albeit in a far less democratic process - that’ll nonetheless write a new chapter in Havana of a post-Castro era.

The elections of other nations

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notwithstanding, the NNP’s parliamentary majority will be subject to the same political dynamics that have recently seen many other constitutional monarchies around the world - from the UK to Canada to New Zealand - either have the sitting government booted from office or forced into a coalition and minority governance.

Simply put, in an era that has seen the old political convention ‘every first term government usually gets a second term’ crumble, the NDC will need to convince the Grenadian people they could have been governed better than by the NNP’s absolute majority. Even if they have a very strong record to run on, it is no guarantee.

The risk for the NNP is that many Grenadians may accept the outcome of another four years of its rule but put forward a ‘protest vote’ in the hope that it’ll shake things up in St George’s. That feeling is one that can have substantial and long-lasting consequences.

GLOBAL VOTERS ARE PUNISHING COMPLACENCY

Elections in the UK and other nations around the world have consistently shown opinion polls are no longer reasonable predictors of outcome. After all, many Britons wished to remain in the EU but voted for Brexit as a protest vote. Post-Brexit data suggests over

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1 million Britons regret their vote and would now vote differently.

The experience of Hillary Clinton is another example. While Donald Trump was recognised as a political phenomenon, and then astounded many by winning the Republican Party nomination, Clinton remained a resounding favourite going into the 2016 US presidential election.

Just as it was held that Hillary Clinton’s ‘unlikeability’ factor hugely damaged her chance at victory, so, too, would the Mitchell government be tempting fate if it took a strong record in office to the people, with a healthy serving of arrogance.

On this basis, it’s notable that considerable personal animosity exists between Mitchell and Burke, highlighted by Burke’s commencement of defamation proceedings earlier this year, claiming that Mitchell had defamed him by alleging that Burke had not paid taxes in previous years.

In turn, Burke has sought to position Mitchell and his government as contemptuous of the Grenadian people, with “complete disregard to the constitution and basic laws”. He has also shown contrition for the in-fighting and mistakes that the Tillman Thomas government made when in office.

This personal element heightens the chance of the unexpected.

CONCLUSION

With each side posturing, we see now a familiar global theme played out locally.

There is the incumbent governing party calling itself the only safe choice, as we saw with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Then, there is the alternative; perhaps a bigger risk but also a change from business as usual. We know what happened with that narrative in the US. Overall, the Mitchell government has a strong record, and strong prospects for re-election. The stability it has looked to provide to business, and the growth across the nation’s economy, is testament to this.

As opposition is held to be where ‘defeated governments learn from mistakes, and new ones work to take shape’, many Grenadians will be wary of voting Burke and the NDP back in, just one term after the party lost office.

Nonetheless, it will be important that Mitchell and the NNP make a case for why their party should win another term, rather than doing a victory lap on their majority won back in 2013. Recent history shows that there’s nothing as dangerous for a government as going into an election as a huge favourite.

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The Saint Lucia Diabetes and Hypertension Association has partnered with American firm Tenacia Global to deliver aid to patients in Dominica. The project is said to be the first of many in the region.

SLDHA DONATES INSULIN TO DOMINICA The St. Lucia Diabetes and Hypertension Association has received a donation of insulin from Tenacia Global out of the United States. The insulin will be delivered to persons living with diabetes in Dominica.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, via the Central Procurement Unit, facilitated the safe storage of this medication.

During a short presentation ceremony on December 4 at the Ministry of Health’s Conference Room on the Castries Waterfront, Project Manager for the St. Lucia Diabetes and Hypertension Association, George Eugene,

stated that this project is looking to lower costs associated with managing diabetes to allow more persons to benefit.

“The reason we are here is because Tenacia Global, which is a partner organisation that we joined with well over a year ago, is trying to create a project that will help not only Saint Lucia but all the other islands in the Caribbean. We’re going to start the project in Saint Lucia but it has always been focussed to bring in all the sister organisations, diabetes NGOs throughout the region.

So eventually all of us will be benefitting

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from the project that we are trying to put together,” said Eugene.

Business Development Manager for the St. Lucian Public Health Diabetes Project, Andrew Felix, announced that Tenacia Global donated 500 vials of insulin to Dominica. He added that this is the first of many projects to come.

“The landmark project that we are currently working on is a project which is radically going to change the way noncommunicable disease is prevented and treated in Saint Lucia and throughout the Caribbean. We are also working on a number

The Saint Lucia Government Gazette

of large projects throughout the Caribbean and in the UK. We’ve currently setup a “go fund me” page with two of my colleagues, Don Nelson and Nicolas Gillard, and other celebrities are going to join that, and sports starts as well. Hopefully we’re going to get their support and we’re currently working on a glaucoma project for persons greatly affected by diabetes,” said Felix.

The St. Lucian Public Health Diabetes Project aims to mirror its activities in Dominica and calls on individuals not to forget the plight of persons in the hurricane-battered island.

Company Registration

S O U F R I E R E - S T. L U C I A Trademarks

Name: Islander Progress IT Solutions (IPIS) Inc.

Mark name: KENT NAVY BLUE

and App Development Training ( c ) IT Consultant Services

Applicant: British American Tobacco (Brands), Inc.

Directors: Alvin Prospere

Filing date: 24/02/2014

Date Incorporated: 27-Nov-17

Agent: Nicholas John & Co.

Chamber: SEDU - Saint Lucia

Description: ( a ) Data Recovery Servcies ( b ) Software

Class: 34 Cigarettes; tobacco; tobacco products; lighters; matches; smokers’ articles

Name: 4.1.1 Entertainment Management Ltd. Description: ( a ) Artist Management ( b ) Entertainment Services

Lot Area/Size Building Area Open Area Bedrooms

11,335 sqft 1,726.66 sqft 9,608.34 sqft 13.8 sqft

The house is located in the south-western section of Saint Lucia in Fond Cacao Development (part of the Debuolay Estate), in the Quarter of Soufriere. The property (which was built and designed by Consolidated Designs), is in an upmarket private residential development & commercial area and is ideally situated with easy access off a paved road, leading to the Diamond Falls.

The house comprises 2 master bedrooms with en-suite, a spacious open plan lounge / dining area and kitchen. The property has ceramic tiled floors and jalousie windows throughout with exposed timber frame ‘high’ ceilings (with a varnish finish). The property and land has open space for future expansion and is ideal for residence and as a weekend country home.

Pearl Moore

For further information Contact: Mobile: +44 (0)790 181 4140 Email: pearl.moore@sonymusic.com

Mark name: JIM BEAM

Directors: Kenroy D. Justin

Applicant: Jim Beam Brands Co.

Date Incorporated: 27-Nov-17

Filing date: 26/05/2017

Chamber: Kenroy D. Justin - Saint Lucia

Agent: Nicholas John & Co. Class: Alcoholic beverages (except beers); Whiskey

Name: RonJon’s Ltd. Description: Bar & Restaurant

Mark name: CAPTAIN MORGAN Applicant: Diageo Scotland Limited Filing date: 26/05/2017 Agent: Nicholas John & Co. Class: Alcoholic beverages, except beers

Directors: PIF Corporate Services Inc. Date Incorporated: 29-Nov-17 Chamber: Peter I. Foster & Associates - Saint Lucia Name: West Surge Holdings Inc. Description: ( a ) Service Station ( b ) Convenience Store Directors: Andrew Jaganath; Maria Jaganath; Anna Jaganath

Mark name: THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION

Date Incorporated: 29-Nov-17 Chamber: SEDU - Saint Lucia

Applicant: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. Filing date: 21/06/2017

Name: Wicari Global Distribution Inc.

Agent: Nicholas John & Co.

Description: ( a ) Export & Import ( b ) Distributions

Class: Cruise services; cruise ship services;

Directors: Antonius Clarke

travel agency services; excursions; tours; holidays

Date Incorporated: 30-Nov-17

and travel information services

Chamber: SEDU - Saint Lucia

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EU PUTS 17 COUNTRIES ON TAX HAVEN BLACKLIST

BY FT CORRESPONDENT

Blacklist was an ‘insufficient response to the scale of evasion worldwide’, said Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for tax

EU finance ministers have blacklisted 17 countries for refusing to co-operate with its crackdown on tax havens but have welcomed reform promises from 47 other nations.

Announcing the outcome of months of screening of global tax policies, Brussels said its inaugural list of noncompliant nations was a step forward but admitted it was not enough.

Campaigners against tax avoidance also said the EU’s blacklist would have little effect without sanctions or other financial penalties.

Panama, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates were all placed on the list of non-compliant jurisdictions.

Countries that have said they will make reforms, including Switzerland, Turkey

and Hong Kong, were added to a so-called “grey list”.

The blacklist — compiled by the European Council’s code of conduct group — was an “insufficient response to the scale of tax evasion worldwide”, said Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for tax. He called for member states to “set a precise timetable” to examine the grey-listed countries’ commitments in six months time.

Current plans are to reconsider the list annually. Developed grey-list countries have one year to deliver on their reform promises while developing nations have two years.

Beyond being named, countries currently face few consequences from being blacklisted. Some EU funding legislation does include reference to the blacklist and the bloc’s finance ministers will discuss

Current plans are to reconsider the list annually.

Developed greylist countries have one year to deliver on their reform promises while developing nations have two years.

specific countermeasures next year.

“It is completely pointless to have a blacklist with no sanctions,” said Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network. “Tax avoiders and the countries that sponsor them will all be letting out a sigh of relief today.”

“As long as the Council cannot agree on common sanctions against listed tax havens, the blacklist will be toothless,” said MEP Sven Giegold, a Green party spokesman on financial and economic policy.

Aurore Chardonnet of the charity Oxfam said: “It seems the EU’s pressure has obliged some of the most notorious tax havens like Switzerland and Bermuda to commit to reforms . . . However, placing countries on a ‘grey list’ shouldn’t just be a way of letting them off the hook, as has happened with other blacklisting efforts in the past.”

The list is an important part of Europe’s decade-long tax crackdown on aggressive tax avoidance, in co-ordination with efforts led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

International tax structures have been pushed up the agenda by a succession of leaked revelations about various jurisdictions, including the Lux leaks, Panama papers and Paradise papers.

Eight Caribbean countries that suffered extensive hurricane damage this year — Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos and the US Virgin Islands — have been given extra time to respond to the EU’s request and do not appear on any list.

To stay off the list, countries must have fair tax rules, which the EU defines as not offering preferential measures or arrangements that enable companies to move profits to avoid levies. They must also meet transparency standards and implement anti-profit-shifting measures set by the OECD. EU members were not screened but Oxfam said that if the criteria were applied to publicly available information the list should feature 35 countries including EU members Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Malta.

International authorities have previously published similar blacklists, but most have struggled for credibility. The OECD’s tax haven list published in June 2016 contained only one country — Trinidad & Tobago.

The 17 countries on the European list are American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, St Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the UAE.

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THE STAR BUSINESSWEEK

DECEMBER 9, 2017

MAKING

WWW.STLUCIASTAR.COM

MOVES

ROTIS STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART

K

BY KAYRA WILLIAMS, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT

nown in lunchtime circles as ‘The Roti Man’, Francis Lawrence has filled a niche for many searching for the perfect midday meal.

For seven years he has managed from home a business that delivers scores of rotis to schools and businesses too numerous to mention. With concentration on maintaining just the right formula and standard, Francis’ rotis are taking the city circuit by storm.

Some people can be very discouraging but you really don’t pay them any attention.

Persevere, and go about doing what you do

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS FRANCIS: I run a catering service that

specializes in different kinds of rotis. What makes it different is the wide variety of rotis on offer. We make beef, chicken, snout, herring, turkey, lamb, vegetables, fish, shrimp, and more. Anything our customers want in their roti, they can get it.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO SET UP THIS BUSINESS? FRANCIS: At the rate of how things are

going in this country, there are no jobs.

Nobody is offering work, and you can’t wait around for someone to give you something to do. Even when you work for people, sometimes they want to pay you peanuts. I decided no, I’ll do my own thing. We make amazing rotis so I decided to put them on the market.

and sometimes you can’t get people to do what you want. Sometimes your standard goes down by asking people to come in to work with you. They don’t always get it right.

It’s not an easy thing. We’re trying to be careful, and maintain what we do.

HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO START THE BUSINESS? FRANCIS: You’ve got to have patience,

WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE THIS? FRANCIS: Right now I’m retired. When I

that’s for sure. You will get criticism when you start, and it’s not going to go fast. What I’ve learned is this: just let people get to know you as you go along, and don’t give up.

Continue to do what you do, and maintain the standard. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. We’re not trying to put out a big amount of rotis, we work with manageable numbers.

We have our formula for our rotis, seasonings - we stick to that and maintain it.

was younger I worked with McNamara for 21 years, as a solicitor’s clerk. I also worked in the field of customs brokerage with Harris Paints for 10 years.

WHY DID YOU MOVE INTO A NEW FIELD? FRANCIS: You end up doing things like

Francis Lawrence - Always on time with steaming hot roti deliveries!

HOW MANY ROTIS DO YOU MAKE IN ONE DAY? FRANCIS: Sometimes 150, sometimes

more. It depends on how many orders we receive. We have various customers in the schools and different business places. People call us to make their orders, and we deliver.

We’ve done work with some of the bigger businesses here, and they loved it. We’ve also worked with some of the major carnival bands here, which meant that around carnival time we put out 600-700 rotis in two days. We also do catering for different occasions, including funerals. We always include complimentary juice with our orders.

HOW MUCH DO YOUR ROTIS GO FOR? FRANCIS: We started selling our rotis

for $10. Then people started saying, not everybody would have $10 for the day. So we cut it down smaller, and started selling it for $6, and still gave a free drink.

DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY ON THE ROAD. FRANCIS: We peel the potatoes at night

and get everything ready. Preparing the rotis starts at 4 a.m. I leave home at about 10.30 a.m. and by that time I’m already getting calls like crazy. Before I even start delivering, we have to go through the process of packaging.

People call, and I deliver. I stop and people buy at random as well. Our rotis are always really hot when we deliver them, you’d swear we had a cooker in the car! We carry them in a new cooler, and package it very carefully.

WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU FACED? FRANCIS: Some people can be very

discouraging but you really don’t pay them any attention. Persevere, and go about doing

what you do. If you have to worry about people you will stay behind. I also encounter a lot of people when I’m going around who just want things for free. I have to tell them, you have to work for the things that you want. Sometimes I give but, at the end of the day, it’s a business. I look at them and I tell them this is work. I’m working right now. I’m not running a charity. We have to get up and do this thing every day, and I can’t go out there and give it away. Even with the price cut, people still ask for things for free but, so far, we still have a lot of clients.

DO YOU PLAN ON EXPANDING? FRANCIS: If you’re happy with what

you’re doing, you can expand, but then you have to start looking at overheads. You have to find a place, and get people to come in,

this because there are no jobs around. It’s hard to find a good job with a fair salary.

What many people are paid now in this country is to pay their bills, and they are unable to save anything. The cost of living is expensive here. Sometimes you have to go to the supermarket every day, and every day the prices are different. Nothing is stabilized here. At the end of the day, I’m trying to stay afloat like everybody else.

HOW EASY IS IT TO DO BUSINESS IN SAINT LUCIA? FRANCIS: If you are going into business,

anything you’re going to do, make sure you do it right. If you do it right, you’re going to get around, and people will see that. You can’t come in any arrogant way – come straight from the heart. Once you’re dealing straight from the heart, things will happen the way that they should. That’s how it is, and I am dealing straight from the heart.

Hungry? Contact 487-3955 to make your order today!

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