Attorney General, Aumua Ming Leung Wai, says that a new Trusts Bill 2014 tightens laws against fraud and loosens secrecy aspects of the country’s offshore finance industry.
“The secrecy provisions under the old Trusts Act are replaced by the confidentiality provisions under clause 80,” said Aumua in an email response to written questions from the Samoa Observer. “It is more in line with international standards set down by OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and other similar agencies, for example, the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG/ML).”
Aumua also responded to a question about the urgency shown to get the Trusts Bill 2014 passed through two readings in one sitting.
“The Bill has been in the making for several years,” he said. “It introduces modern trust law provisions that would encourage the continued growth and long term survival of Samoa’s offshore financial centre. “S.I.F.A. has been marketing these new provisions overseas so it is vital that the Act be passed urgently so that Samoa is ahead of its competitors.”
Questioned about the lack of time for debate in Parliament, Aumua said that there “was extensive consultation within the offshore industry and relevant stakeholders.”
The bill combines previous trust laws separately dealing with local and foreign trusts, but Aumua said there were no risks to this approach. “No – it provides clarity as to what rules apply to trusts whether domestic or foreign. The new Act is far more detailed than the previous Act,” he said.
“Having these two different types of trusts to be administered under the Trusts Act pose no risk but in fact provides a better market and position for Samoa in terms of making it more attractive and relevant to the international investor and further diversifying Samoa’s product base and to give Samoa that much needed edge against its competitors in the offshore industry.”
He confirmed that the bill is intended to tighten existing protections against trusts set up for the sole purpose of a scam or “sham”, a word used in the new law. “Yes it does. See Part 2 on Creation and nature of trusts, sections 10 and 12 in relation to validity and enforceability and fraudulent trust or disposition.”
Aumua released the name of the legal company that was involved in the drafting of the bill.
“The Bill’s lead drafter was Lea and White International, a law firm based in Hong Kong that specialises in trust law.” Mark Lea, a partner in the firm, is quoted in the China Offshore news site as referring to a new 2012 trust act, stating that “Samoa has offered wealth managment services for quite some time.
“It's among the first jurisdictions to recognize the mainland China, so its close relationship with China is one of its biggest advantages,” he said.
<!-- samoaobs_headline -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9419815128221199"
data-ad-slot="5353984075"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>{/googleAds}
“Samoa can provide a wide range of solutions, including trusts, mutual funds and special puropose international company. These solutions will all be interesting to Chinese people.”
Samoa has previously been ranked, by the Tax Justice Network in its 2013 Financial Secrecy Index, as the most secretive offshore centre in the world.
However, Aumua indicated that secrecy has not prevented enforcement of existing laws, answering “yes” to two questions about cases taken by the office of the Attorney General against offshore entities.
He did not go into details. Passage of the bill follows a February visit from the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a regional body recognised by the Financial Action Task Force, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OECD, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Asian Development Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. The low-key visit was not announced publicly until afterwards, via a news release on the group’s site on 5th of March.
The A.P.G. item stated that: “An A.P.G. team comprised of Razim Buksh, Director of Fiji’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the Pacific Islands representative on the APG Steering Group, ‘Aminiasi Kefu, Solicitor General of Tonga and Eliot Kennedy from the APG Secretariat met with Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister (and acting Prime Minister), the Minister of Finance, Chairperson of the Standing Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Revenue of Parliament, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police and other senior officials in Apia on 26 and 27 February 2014.
The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the status of Samoa’s Counter-Terrorism Bill.” The news item did not mention the Trust Bill. Samoa joined the A.P.G. in 2000 and was evaluated in 2001 and 2006, eight years ago.
“The report of the 2006 evaluation was adopted by the A.P.G. at its 2006 Annual Meeting and has been used as the basis of progress reporting by Samoan authorities since. While Samoa has made significant progress since its 2006 evaluation, passage of the Counter-Terrorism Bill is an important step to come into better compliance with the FATF standards,” reads the item.
“During the visit, Samoan Ministers and officials gave a strong commitment to enact the Counter- Terrorism Bill as a matter of urgency. Samoa’s Parliament resumes sitting on 18 March 2014 and it is hoped that the Bill will be passed by the end of March.”
The APG also refers to a separate workshop that was held on Friday 28 February, “to assist Samoa with preparations for its third round A.P.G. mutual evaluation.”
The mutual evaluation team will visit Samoa in November 2014, said the group.
<!-- 336x280 (bottom-article) -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-2469982834957525"
data-ad-slot="1033882026"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script> {/googleAds}