MUMBAI, Nov 3: Mauritius today said no money laundering is taking place through its jurisdiction and it has provided all the information sought by India.
“There is no money laundering. The numbers about black money are exaggerated. Our financial system is very transparent. We’ve many laws to ensure that there’s no corruption. We’ve always been dealing with India and giving all the information they’ve been seeking,” Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth told reporters here.
He also wondered about the need for New Delhi to draft a new black money law and have new tax law with his country, accused of being a haven for money laundering and misused for round tripping for long, when “there is no money laundering happening through his nation”.
He was responding to a question about the impact of the new black money law and the new double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) that the government is planning to ratify with Mauritius.
On the DTAA, he said, “Everyone is asking me about this treaty. This has been in existence between our two countries for a very long time. It has been doing very well. We are all very happy with the provisions of the treaty and I hope they (India) keep it as it is.”
This comes within a week of him saying that his government was working on the new treaty with New Delhi.
“It is premature for me to pronounce on a time line to sign the new treaty because it is not over yet,” Jugnauth had said in Delhi on October 30.
When asked as to when he expects to sign the revised treaty, Jugnauth said, “I don’t know will there be a revised treaty. I don’t know the new provisions. I don’t know there will be a revised law.”
On specifically asked about the impact of the black money law, the Prime Minister said, “India is a free country, if it wants to pass certain laws I cannot stop them. On our side, we have not made any assessment of the impact of your laws on our economy. I hope it stays as it is.”
In New Delhi he had promised India a clean and trusted jurisdiction, and “walk the extra mile” to ensure that its reputation as clean and trusted jurisdiction is upheld at all costs.
“We will put in all the necessary efforts and walk the extra mile to ensure that our reputation as clean, proven and trusted jurisdiction is upheld at all costs,” Jugnauth had said in the Capital last weekend after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India has concerns that Mauritius, which is one of the top sources of FDI into the country, is being used for round-tripping of funds.
Round-tripping is usually referred to routing of domestic investments through Mauritius to take advantage of the DTAA between the two countries.
A host of global firms, including those from the US and Europe, have traditionally been using the island nation to route their investments in India to benefit from an Indo-Mauritius DTAA in force since 1983.
Earlier this year, Mauritius had become a signatory to the multilateral framework that provides mutual administrative assistance on tax matters with India and other countries.
Mauritius had also signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.
The framework is primarily aimed at ensuring more exchange of tax information among countries to help curb the flow of unaccounted money and assets. (PTI)