The Bahamas faces a long battle against the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) and its affiliates who will never “cease and desist” from trying to impose sound regulation on a country that refuses to act legitimately.
Lester Turnquest, managing director with responsibility for client relations at the Britannia Consulting Group, whines that the FSF and its secretary-general Svein Andresen, show a “complete and utter lack of sensitivity to the unrealistic nature of some of the demands made on international financial centres” such as the Bahamas.
FSF regulators say they are only trying to bring legitimacy to a nation that has proven itself to be scandalous in international financial affairs.
Responding to the FSF’s latest initiative targeting offshore financial centres, Mr. Turnquest accused Mr. Andresen of acting as a “proxy for the destruction of the Bahamas as a financial centre”.
In what might be seen as a low blow against former FNM administration of Hubert Ingraham, which enacted the 2000 financial services regulatory regime under pressure from the trio of the FSF, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Mr. Turnquest said the Bahamian government had to be careful to always act in this nation’s best interest.
There are several groups of money launderers operating in the Bahamas, a few of whom have retained corrupt lawyers to challenge any legislation that may thwart their activities.
Source: The Tribune
