Fiji: tax evasion common reason for STRs
Fiji is not widely thought of as a tax haven. Maybe that's why such a high proportion of reports made to the FIU related to suspicions of tax evasion.
Razim Buksh, the Director of the FIU says that its annual report shows the considerable progress made by Fiji to meet the requirements of the World Bank (imposed by Wolfowitz before his fall from grace) to require recipient countries to have good governance and controls.
Common amongst the reason for STRs, he says, are suspicions of tax evasion. That's an unusual event - most countries see few to nil reports for that reason.
And the FIU refers an unusually high proportion of STRs for further investigation: out of 268 reports in 2007, 113 were referred to law enforcement and other agencies for action.
The report do not all relate to large amounts: the total involved was just FJD26.3 million. A Fijian Dollar is worth about two thirds of a USD.
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