NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Attorney General Ryan Pinder said yesterday that the Davis administration is committed to compliance with international best practices in the financial services industry, while also advancing new policies, products, and offerings for growth.
Speaking ahead of a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Pinder also condemned the recent Pandora Papers leak.
“The Bahamas was not highlighted, we may have been mentioned but not highlighted and I think that speaks to where we have come as a jurisdiction,” he said.
“I do condemn the International media organizations for breaching the data protection acts of respective countries and jurisdictions in effectively stealing this information. I do note that for the first time in these public releases, those larger countries have been identified as being culprits with respect to these financial matters.”
Pinder continued: “We are committed to having The Bahamas respected and compliant with international best practices but unlike the former administration we are also committed to advancing new, new policies, products, and new offerings so that we can see parallel growth as we comply with regulatory obligations imposed upon us.”
The recent Pandora Papers leak, the biggest ever offshore data similar to the Panama Papers leak in 2016 has exposed the financial dealings and secret accounts of wealthy elites including politicians, billionaires, celebrities, Royal family members, and drug dealers from more than 200 countries and territories.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reportedly spent more than a year uncovering and analyzing the more than 11.9 million records in the Pandora Papers leak. The Pandora Papers are a follow-up to a similar project released in 2016 called the “Panama Papers” compiled by the same journalistic group.
Speaking to the government’s commitment to best practices, Pinder said: “I think we have always said, even back when I was the Minister of Finical Services that all we are looking for is a level playing field in our assessment.
“We work hard as a small jurisdiction with limited resources and limited technical abilities just like a lot of our regional partners in meeting the requirements and expectations of the international community. We have worked hard in many cases to the detriment of our industry to be compliant.”
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