Illicit finance: Seychelles and UK sign economic security partnership for safer economies
Finance |Author: Sedrick Nicette | October 8, 2024, Tuesday @ 15:57| 2378 views
High Commissioner Glekin and Secretary of State Payet exchange the signed economic security partnership agreement in the presence of Lord Collins of Highbury and Minister Hassan, finance officials and the UK delegation. (Seychelles News Agency)
(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles has signed an economic security partnership agreement with the United Kingdom, which will seek to address illicit finance and promote greater transparency in Seychelles.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday morning at the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Trade’s headquarters by the Secretary of State for Finance, Patrick Payet, the Minister for Finance, Naadir Hassan, the British High Commissioner to Seychelles, Jeff Glekin, and the UK Minister for Africa, Lord Collins of Highbury.
Payet said that the first component of this partnership is transparency, adding; “We want to revise the beneficial ownership database and we are being assisted by the UK to put a new framework in place.”
He added that the UK will also work jointly with other institutions, such as the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), Financial Services Authority (FSA), Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), and others, to build capacity, so they are better able to analyse this beneficial ownership information.
The second component in the assistance that the UK is giving is for the Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles (ACCS) and the Seychelles Police, specifically in regard to corruption cases.
“They will give their technical expertise for capacity building in these institutions, to ensure that we get more cases that are taken to court,” added Payet.
He added that the third component is in regard to virtual assets, where the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act was enacted on September 1, 2024, and they will be looking to operational these regulations.
“Virtual assets are relatively new to many institutions, so the UK will provide its expertise to help with this,” added Payet.
High Commissioner Glekin expressed his pleasure at signing this partnership, which he says will help make both countries safer economically.
“This agreement is going to support the exchange of information between our people and our experts, in a way that lays the foundations for both a safer Seychelles and a safer UK, and also more prosperous Seychelles and UK,” he said.