The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

STATE Legal Affairs Minister Jomo Campbell said following The Bahamas’ sanctioning of entities with Russian federation ties, one company was found to have an “overwhelming” value of $1.6bn in private company assets held in a Bahamian fiduciary structure.

The $1.6bn consisted of deposits, custody assets, assets held in a trust or other fiduciary structure and investment in companies and only $7.5m in assets were portfolio management custody assets.

He said this came to light after The Bahamas considered various actions that were being taken by major financial centres and gave its support for the attorney general to issue directions.

Mr Campbell said this mandated to the financial services regulators that “all licensees and registrants be required to conduct a search of their client databases to identify entities and individuals so sanctioned. The directions were issued on March 9, 2022 and results by licensees and registrants were submitted on the 21 and 22 March 2022.

The submissions revealed that there were three individuals identified and one company with assets valuing approximately $1.6 billion comprising deposits, custody assets, assets held in a trust or other fiduciary structure and investment companies,” he said.

“It is important to note that of the assets listed above, only $7.5m in assets are portfolio management custody assets and the overwhelming value - $1.6 billion are private company assets held in a Bahamas fiduciary structure and not bank deposits. We have very few accounts and structures of sanctioned persons in The Bahamas.”