Taxation & Regulation News South Africa

Namibia slams 'unjust' listing on EU tax haven blacklist

WINDHOEK - Namibia has criticised its listing on a new European Union blacklist of tax havens as unjust and biased, blaming the status on missing a deadline to comply.
Namibian finance minister, Calle Schlettwein. Photo: The Namibian
Namibian finance minister, Calle Schlettwein. Photo: The Namibian

The southern African desert nation is the only sub-Saharan African country named in a 17-nation list of non-EU tax havens.

"Namibia is clearly, by any objective criteria, not a tax haven," said finance minister, Calle Schlettwein.

The listing is "unjust, prejudiced, partisan, discriminatory and biased," Schlettwein charged.

The list of non-cooperative tax havens adopted by EU ministers on Tuesday also named: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.

Schlettwein said Namibia's blacklisting was based on "miscommunication" as the country had missed a deadline to comply.

He added that Namibia would ask the EU to correct the blacklisting, saying it would cause serious harm to the country's "outstanding reputation as a politically stable democracy."

He added that the lower-middle-income country was instead "exposed to illicit outflow of cash, as has been revealed in the recently published Paradise Papers," he said.

The minister said he hoped the EU would help Namibia fight questionable flows of money from the country.

Namibia is a country of 2.4-million people and shares parts of its southwestern borders with South Africa.

Source: AFP

Source: I-Net Bridge

For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.

We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.

Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
Let's do Biz