Thursday 31 October 2019 saw a political
bombshell explode over Anguilla. It was
the “Transhipment” bombshell.
You may not remember the
scandal even if you are elderly. It
happened many years ago (1998-1999) and was poorly reported in Anguilla. Few of us are aware of the details of the scheme. The most we learned at the time was that the
beautiful new road from West End to the Blowing Point traffic light was built
with transhipment money. Chief Minister
Hubert Hughes received wide political praise for this infrastructural
improvement at the time. To his
credit, he subsequently distanced himself from the scheme
that financed it.
The transhipment scheme involved
diverting ships on their way from Brazil to Europe laden with aluminium ingots. The ships barely paused outside Anguilla’s
port on their way to their destinations, mainly in Italy. The ships’ captains would prepare papers
saying they had landed their cargo on Anguilla.
Anguillian customs officers would speed out to sea in their Customs boat
to meet the ships. Official Anguilla
government receipts would be issued showing the full customs duty of 6% had
been paid. The organisers would claim
back up to 50% of the customs duty as expenses.
Papers proving the full duty was paid in Anguilla would be issued. This was all as agreed with the Anguilla
government. But, a refund of customs duty
paid to an agent was not lawful under European Commission rules.
Anguilla asserted that the
full amount of European duty was paid in Anguilla. Anguilla was and is a British Overseas
Territory. When the cargo was landed in
Europe, the shippers claimed the duty was already paid at a British Overseas
Territory Port. The cargo was supposed
to be free of all further duty. The
Europeans fell for this for over a year.
Subsequently, the organisers
rented the Old Factory shell building in the Long Path from Government. They attempted a sugar transhipment scheme
there. They bagged sugar supposedly
grown in Anguilla. In fact, it was grown
in Sudan. This project was shut down
after a relatively short period.
While it lasted, the lawyers
made money. The organisers made
money. The agents made money. Even Anguilla’s customs made some
revenue. As proof, the West End road got
built. After an investigation, HM
Customs reported to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (“the FCO”) on 9
December 1998 that up to one third of Government’s revenue came from this one
source. But it did not last long.
Of course, the Europeans
eventually discovered what was going on and protested. The FCO stepped in and, after ten (10)
shipments, stopped us from playing the game.
The Dutch lawyers who designed
the scheme used both Anguilla and Curacao.
Many of those involved in the Curacao part of the scheme came to a
sticky end. The head of the FOL party,
Anthony Godett, was convicted of fraud, when he was about to be named Prime
Minister. His sister Mirna was quickly
substituted as PM. Also convicted was
Ben Komproe, the previous PM, who died after several weeks in prison. Another convicted official, former Curacao
Commissioner and later chief advisor to the PM, Nelson Monte, was convicted,
among other things, of fraud. No one in
Anguilla was ever charged, far less convicted.
The Europeans claimed a refund
of the lost duties from both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. These refused to pay the refund. This caused the European Commission to begin
the case in the European Court of Justice.
They won their case. The
Netherlands must now pay back over US$20 million. The amount of money the UK must pay for
Anguilla is not stated in the judgment.
Molly Quell has published the
story of Britain being held responsible for Anguilla’s actions. It is to be found in a 31 October 2019 issue
of “The Courthouse News Service”: https://www.courthousenews.com/uk-netherlands-found-liable-for-territories-failure-to-tax-exports/.
This is an
official publication of the European Court of Justice.
The question we are all asking
is, when Britain pays the money, will she take this assault on her treasure
lying down? Or, will she demand that
Anguilla pay back the money? After all,
only we and our agents benefitted from it.
How will this court judgment affect Anguilla’s already excessive public
debt burden? What further taxes will we
be called on to pay in order to meet it?
