Transparency and Compliance Are Key to Successful Citizenship Programmes - Experts Say

London (ots/PRNewswire) -

Proper due diligence and compliance will prevent abuse of
residence or citizenship programmes, Global Investor Immigration
Council tells OECD

Competition and transparency are the keys to preventing abuse of
citizenship or residency programmes aimed at circumventing the
Organisation of Economic Development's (OECD) Common Reporting
Standard. That is the view of a group of experts from the Global
Investor Immigration Council (GIIC), including Mykolas Rambus,
Chairman, GIIC; and founding members of the GIIC, Armand Arton of
Arton Capital and Nuri Katz of Apex Capital Partners, in consultation
with Kim Marsh, an industry expert in the field of security,
intelligence and compliance, and Ambassador Eric T. Schultz
(retired), Government Affairs Strategies with Arton's Government
Advisory Practice.

On February 19, the OECD published an open consultation paper in
which it outlined how due diligence professionals can prevent the
abuse of investment migration programs to circumvent the CRS. OECD
invited interested parties to send their comments on this
consultation draft by 19 March 2018.

In a letter to the OECD, the experts pointed out that the members
of the GIIC work with many of the countries that offer citizenship by
investment and residency by investment programs. They also work with
individual clients, and conduct background checks and due diligence.
Under no circumstances do they consider tax evasion to be legitimate
grounds to seek another country's citizenship. Instead clients are
motivated by a desire to facilitate their international travel as
well as securing a safe future for generations to come.

In their statement, GIIC declare that they are fully supportive of
mandatory disclosure rules requiring all industry participants to
report arrangements that appear likely to circumvent CRS reporting
requirements. At the same time, GIIC underline that CBI/RBI schemes
alone cannot be used to circumvent CRS rules. It is only through
proper training, and proper due diligence and KYC procedures that
financial institutions can guard against abuse of CRS rules, GIIC
conclude.

"We acknowledge that, as the consultation document claims, there
are individuals who may seek to evade CRS rules through CBI/RBIs,"
said Mykolas Rambus, chairman of GIIC. "As a Council, we firmly
believe that it is our duty to be aware of these possibilities and to
be supportive of measures to be taken to mitigate stakeholders in our
industry from participating in schemes to avoid CRS. We fully support
the OECD efforts to ensure that these programs are not misused to
avoid proper tax assessment and payment."

The Council agrees that all financial institutions can mitigate
abuse of CRS rules by properly applying due diligence procedures to
all taxpayers. It welcomes the OECD compiling a list of high risk
schemes and hopes that the OECD will pay proper and correct attention
to the minimal, if any, effect that CBI/RBI has in assisting tax
payers evade correct CRS information exchange.

In conclusion, demand for CBI/RBI is only going to increase with
global migration trends resulting in still more countries looking to
explore ways to fill the void. It is critical that the industry works
closely with other stakeholders such as the OECD to ensure that it
develops in a transparent and responsible manner.

About the Global Investor Immigration Council

The Global Investor Immigration Council is a non-partisan,
not-for-profit organization addressing the opportunities and
challenges of the movement of immigrant investors and global
citizens. The GIIC works to protect the reputation of the investor
immigration industry and serve as solid ground for the development
and maintenance of best industry practices. It is a self-regulatory
organization and recognized global representative and proponent of
the industry.

ots Originaltext: Global Investor Immigration Council (GIIC)
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Mr.Rupert Wright, rw@ashbright.com, +44(0)7557-371908

Original-Content von: Global Investor Immigration Council (GIIC), übermittelt durch news aktuell