DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock
The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation has filed a report on the status of the 16 non-self governing territories that it classifies as colonial possessions. Whilst academics researching the history of European colonisation may find it illuminating, money launderers engaged in their daily quest for new targets of opportunity will certainly look at it as a potential guide for future illicit operations. Their quest may have been made even more urgent by the publication, in two pending bills in the United States Senate*, of slightly different lists of countries declared by the US government to be Tax Havens and jurisdictions where tax evasion occurs.
The 16 non-self governing territories specified on the UN decolonisation list:
- Western Sahara
- American Samoa
- Guam
- New Caledonia
- Pitcairn Island
- Tokelau
- Anguilla
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Falkland Islands a/k/a Islas Malvinas
- Gibraltar
- Montserrat
- St. Helena
- Turks & Caicos Islands
- United States Virgin Islands
Note that whilst the UK Dependent Territories are listed, the UN has also included a number of overseas United States possessions in the Pacific, as well as the Caribbean.
The United Nations Special Committee noted that, in the fifteen years that it has been in operation, only East Timor, of all the colonial territories, has changed its status. Does this mean that the countries and territories listed are not slated for independence in the foreseeable future? We cannot say, but we suggest that you look carefully at the names of territories not presently known as offshore financial centres, as they may represent the shape of things to come, whether under their present status, or after independence. Are they obscure, and in the backwater of the world ? Of course; that is precisely why they may be chosen by money launderers.
File this article away for future reference, in the event that evidence surfaces indicating that any of the territories, not previously known as a haven for financial crime, are facilitating money laundering. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ * New bill will treat tax haven companies as domestic US corporations; World-Check 20 February, 2007;. US seeks to totally deny tax haven access to Americans; World-Check 20 February, 2007.
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
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