Panic in the financial center of Port Louis, blacklisted by The European Union (EU) on May 7. Bankers, lawyers and managers are worried that their customers and prospects are already fleeing the island, its numerous financial services and tax facilities. During an online seminar on 10 June organized by the Mauritian management company DTOS, the Managing Partner of JurisConsult Chambers, Nicolas Richard, noted with concern that his American and European clients are looking for other jurisdictions to transfer their structures, and that others are leaving the Mauritian trail to create their company. This has been the case since the day the new list was published. The CEO of DTOS Jimmy Wong Yuen Tien and the Director of Global Business of AfrAsia Bank, Yogesh Gokool, who were also present, were alarmed. Fleeing investors, public or private, would now fall back on other financial centers, including the British Isles of Jersey and Guernsey, which the EU did not include in its new list.

Among Mauritian offshore professionals, the government's response to The European Union does not reassure certain industry players, who blame the ex& Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth's warning that he was not “proactive” enough and that he waited for sanctions to remedy already known shortcomings. They also criticize him for reacting too plaintively to the list, without moving forward. However, as soon as the list was published, Maurice commissioned the lobbying firm Avisa Partners for 100,000 euros per month in order to whitewash his reputation (Africa Intelligence dated 29/05/20). Moreover, the list published in May is not final and must be validated in October 2020.

The Mauritian offshore center fights back against the EU

In the meantime, the Mauritian public agency responsible for the financial center, the Economic Board of Development, is working hard to get out of it. It thus significantly advanced some of its transparency and regulatory objectives to September 2020, a month before the publication of the new list, instead of December 2021 as initially planned. Pravind Jugnauth's office also issued a press release on 2 June. He pointed out that OECD, another European reference for tax haven lists, confirmed that the Mauritian tax regime complies with its criteria and that Mauritius has ratified its regulations.

The Port Louis business community is also managing to overcome its differences and judge unanimously The European Union is unfair in its treatment of paradise fiscal. It would have sent too late the methodology corresponding to the new list and would have been inspired by that of the intergovernmental body created by the G7, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).