Mauritius’ Minister of Financial Services and Economic Development, Jyoti Jeetun, clarified on Wednesday that the country should not be seen as a tax haven but rather as a low-tax jurisdiction, which, like many other nations, has faced some reported cases in the past.
She stressed that Mauritius has been taking continuous measures to curb tax-related abuses and noted that there have been no recent incidents. “Mauritius has never been a tax haven. We are a low-tax jurisdiction. Just as cases are occasionally reported even in places like London, we too have seen some in the past. The key is ensuring our institutions function effectively to detect and address any misuse. We are actively working on this, and there have been no recent cases,” she said.
Mauritius was listed on a grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2020 due to cases related to money laundering. It was later removed from the grey list in 2023.
Speaking about the measures taken to counter the black money issue, she said that Mauritius has 12 agencies involved in supervision and regulation.
“There is a lot of perception about this, but the reality is that we have very robust systems and procedures in place. We found ourselves on the EU-Grey list a few years ago. We came out of it. We are largely compliant with all 40 FATF requirements. We have a mutual evaluation coming up in 2027, and we are working closely with all our enforcement agencies on a daily basis to ensure that we never return to the grey list. We are working very hard. We have 12 agencies that are involved in supervision, regulation,” Minister of Financial Services said.
Speaking about Mauritius’ relation with India and China, she said that the country maintains good relationships with both countries and does not compare one to the other.|
“For us, based on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, we have on the east, China and we have India. We have a good relationship with both countries. We have people from China living in Mauritius, as well as people from India. The vast majority of people of Mauritius come from India. Our view is that we will work with all these giants on our doorsteps in collaboration, and we will not compare one to the other. We’re working with all these countries as partners,” she said.
India has close and longstanding relations with Mauritius. A key reason for the special ties is that Indian-origin people comprise nearly 70% of the island’s population of 1.2 million (28% Creole, 3% Sino-Mauritian, 1% Franco-Mauritian).
Earlier, the High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Anurag Srivastava, officially handed over the first batch of ten electric buses (E-buses) to Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam to strengthen the ‘green partnership’ between India and Mauritius.
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