The documents published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) should not be confused with the fact that the Mauritian jurisdiction wants to get out of the ‘Grey List’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said Mahen Seeruttun, Minister of Financial Services.
According to him Mauritius has put in place everything that the international body expected so that Mauritius does strengthen its monitoring against money laundering and terrorist financing. And the visit of the experts of the Financial Action Task Force last month to Mauritius may remove the Mauritian jurisdiction from the Grey list and consequently from the black list of the European Commission.
So far, the names of 17 Mauritians and 37 entities of the country appear in these so-called Pandora Papers. However, for the Minister of Financial Services it is not because a person has chosen to invest in a particular jurisdiction that he necessarily wants to abuse a system. For Mahen Seeruttun, there is nothing at the moment that justifies the institution of an investigation.
The “Pandora Papers” has brought to light some 11 million confidential documents worldwide, from 14 active accounting firms. Notably in tax havens like Panama or the British Virgin Islands.
