Hon Fraser scoffs at Premier over France blacklisting
In a press release issued to members of the media today, September 24, 2013 Hon. Fraser said, “What was more troubling to me, and should trouble you as well, was his claim of not knowing of any difficulties with France.”
Revelations made by the Premier about being shocked at France’s disclosure, amount to “an acknowledgement that [Premier Smith] is being misled by persons high up in his Administration,” Hon. Fraser stated in his release.
The Member of the Opposition charged, if what the Premier was saying regarding his knowledge of compliance and information based in a Reuters news report informing of the blacklist, then “this is a precise indicator that the Premier is being kept out of the loop and therefore is not aware of what is happening in our bread and butter industry.”
The Reuters report published on August 29, 2013 stated, “According to data compiled by the French government through to August 2011, Jersey and Bermuda had responded to all French requests for information. The British Virgin Islands had responded to 31 out of 41 requests.”
Hon. Fraser continued, “It would appear that the French authorities in taking this long to take action, had been pursuing local authorities for compliance for a long while, but without success. Or maybe it might be possible that given that both Bermuda and Jersey responded fully and were still blacklisted that the reason for our being blacklisted was unrelated? Only the Premier can answer this, but of course like everything else, he fails to let us know.”
He added that one would think that [the Premier] was not the Minister of Finance, and was also not responsible for [the Ministry’s] actions, especially something as crucial as this.
The Third District Representative accused the Premier of engaging in “double talk with contradiction after contradiction” when he stated that a restructuring of the Finance Ministry was requested in the middle of 2013 with the establishment of the International Tax Authority (ITA).
He felt this was so especially considering that the French action was taken after the middle of 2013. “Here again he lays the blame for the blacklisting squarely at the feet of his Ministry of Finance, after claiming not to know of their incompetence earlier,” Hon. Fraser said.
According to the former Minister for Communications and Works, “This industry has always received the support and loyalty of all Legislators regardless of Administration. Our commitment has been so strong that no one even ventured to question. My thoughts now are: whether we were doing a disservice to the very people now responsible for what is happening to us today, and indeed to the industry as a whole.”
He further contended that a lack of openness and a kind of protectionism has been the norm for so long, that even a request for mandatory consultations between the Members of the House of Assembly and the FSC was flatly rejected by the Premier.
“Isn't it time for this to change?” he asked, “From what I can see, the answer is yes, and it does not have to come at the expense of the industry which has served the territory so well.”
25 Responses to “Hon Fraser scoffs at Premier over France blacklisting”
of the ndp government and the people who elected them, they have no respect for protocol, they are easily bribed and hoodwinked...the country will continue to get poorer and poorer as long as we keep electing functional illiterates to rule over us
Who gives a $h!t about France?