MONROVIA, Liberia – The European Union Delegation to Liberia has clarified reports that Liberia has been blacklisted by the EU, for the country’s failure to meet transparency criteria set up for member states and countries outside of the EU alike.
Quoting the Nigerian local daily THE NATION, Punch FM/TV’s online service reported on Monday that Liberia and two other major African countries have topped the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdiction in the world.
The following day, Punch FM/TV’s online service published a followed-up story on the EU tax havens saga, captioned: “Liberia to be deprived of EU development aid, if…”
THE NATION reports that EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told a news conference last Wednesday that the European Union had published its first list of international tax havens, tagged: ‘named and shamed” 30 territories on the list of international tax havens, in which Liberia was listed.
EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Moscovici at the time, disclosed that “we are today publishing the top 30 non-cooperative jurisdictions consisting of those countries or territories that feature on at least 10 member states’ blacklists.”
According to THE NATION, the full list of the blacklisted countries are: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Monaco, Mauritius, Liberia, Seychelles, Brunei, Hong Kong, Maldives, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, Panama, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands.
The report shows that on the list, which follows a previous list released by the EU in December 2017 of so-called non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, were three African countries, namely: Liberia, Mauritius and Seychelles.
Countries on the list are deemed by the EU not to meet its set criteria for transparency because they do not comply with international standards on the exchange of information, have harmful tax regimes which result in unfair tax competition and have not committed to implement the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) minimum standards, according to THE NATION.
But EU-Liberia clarifies that although Mr. Moscovici had a press conference on the matter, but that was since June 2015, and that “Liberia is NOT on that list.”
The clarification was made on behalf of the EU delegation to Liberia by its Press and Information Officer Winston P. Daryoue, who in an email to Punch FM/TV’s online service, provided a link as proof of clarity, requesting therefore, that “With the above clarity, the European Union Delegation kindly requests that Punch Liberia makes the necessary correction for your audience and the public.”
“I wish to clarify that Liberia is currently NOT blacklisted and neither is the country facing any eminent risk of sanctions, as long as it remains compliant,” Daryoue wrote.
