Tibbetts responds to US GAO Report on offshore companies in Cayman
Previously, it has been discussed that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported its investigation regarding the Ugland House to the US Senate and the findings regarded Cayman-registered companies.
Following this news, in a Cabinet press briefing in the end of July, Kurt Tibbetts, the Leader of Government Business in the Cayman Islands, responded to the publication by the GAO of the above-mentioned report that investigated why so many US companies have registered companies in the Cayman Islands as well as in other offshore jurisdictions.
The report entitled “Cayman Islands: Business and Tax Advantages Attract US Persons and Enforcement Challenges Exist†published by the GAO was examined at a Senate Finance Committee hearing and Tibbetts commented that the Cayman Islands Government has been in dialogue with the GAO since August 2007, “regarding a review that the GAO was asked to undertake by the US Senate Finance Committee of aspects of the Cayman Islands’ financial services sector relative to the US-source business.” He said that the GAO has no regulatory powers and no law enforcement, accordingly it has no access to “information at the level of detail afforded under the various international cooperation channels that exist between the Cayman Islands and the US”. The GAO met in Cayman with representatives from the Cayman Islands Government in March 2008 and got information for the report. So, Tibetts said: “We believe that the report generally presents an accurate description of the Cayman Islands’ legal and regulatory regime and also assists in clarifying the nature of activity that takes place in the Cayman Islands in its role as a global financial services centre, to the benefit of both US and non-US persons.”