Myanmar allegations highlight Singapore bank
secrecy
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Allegations that Myanmar's junta is stashing
billions of dollars in Singapore have thrown
a spotlight on banking secrecy in the city-state, which strongly
denies being a haven for hot money.
US-based human rights group
EarthRights International says that energy majors Total and Chevron
are propping up the sanctions-hit Myanmar military regime with
profits from a gas project totalling nearly five
billion dollars.
Total and Chevron have rejected the charge and two Singapore
banks named in the ERI report as the repositories for most of the
money -- the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC)
and DBS -- have dismissed it as false and baseless.
In a written reply to media queries on the Myanmar funds, the Monetary
Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it requires financial institutions to have tough controls in place to
fight money laundering and financing of terrorism.
"This includes procedures to identify and know their customers,
and to monitor and report any suspicious transactions," it
said.
Singapore is also amending its tax laws in cooperation with
industrialised nations that are pursuing citizens who deposit their
money in overseas banks.
But Transparency International, which like
many other corruption monitors ranks Singapore highly for its clean
and efficient government, said the city-state should promote
greater transparency in its financial system.
"As long as no one wants to know where the money is coming from,
it will be easy to hide money on which taxes should have been paid,
but most importantly, money that should have been invested in a
given country or programme," a spokesperson for the Berlin-based
group told AFP.
Wealthy Asians regard Singapore as the Switzerland of Asia, a rock-solid financial centre where savings can be kept safely and
discreetly. But critics say some of the money comes from unsavoury
sources.
Officials in neighbouring Indonesia are trying to recover tens
of millions of dollars allegedly stashed in Singapore during the
rule of the late dictator Suharto.
And rival Philippine groups are suing to gain control over more
than 25 million US dollars that formerly belonged to the family of
the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and is
currently frozen in an offshore bank
in Singapore.
"It has been documented time and again that corrupt individuals
-- be they politicians, business executives or wealthy citizens --
have used countries like Singapore as safe
havens to stash their ill-gotten funds," the Transparency
spokesperson said.
There is growing pressure meanwhile on international
banks to help governments recover taxes on assets kept
overseas by their citizens.
Swiss banking giant UBS recently forged a landmark deal with
Washington to reveal the names of some 4,450 American clients
suspected of hiding assets from US tax authorities.
That broke the cherished code of secrecy that underpins the
super-rich European nation's banking system.
Earlier this year, the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development included Singapore on a
list of countries that have not yet fully
implemented standards on the exchange of tax data needed to pursue
suspected evaders.
Singapore's government promised to amend its laws and negotiate
new tax treaties to implement standards set
by the OECD, the Paris-based club of industrial
nations.
The government submitted a bill in parliament on Monday aimed at
improving how the island shares information with countries with
which it has agreements to prevent double
taxation.
In 2007, the last year for when official figures are available,
assets under
management in Singapore totalled 814 billion US dollars, up
32 percent from 2006. About 86 percent is from foreign sources.
The MAS, Singapore's de facto central bank, insists that
investors including institutional and professional fund managers have sound reasons for parking
their money here.
"Singapore's growth and development as a wealth
management centre is underpinned by high standards of
financial
regulation and strict supervision," it said after UBS
announced its deal with the US government.