Antigua and Barbuda must aggressively pursue ways to repair its image before the coming storm of anti-tax haven abuse legislation, says top New York attorney, Kenneth Rubinstein.

Rubinstein's law firm drafted the Antigua International Trust Act, International Foundations Act and the International LLC Act, which came into effect on January 17, 2009.

The Antigua Sun reported that Rubinstein was flown down last week, as an invited expert for a meeting with members of the Antigua financial services group, Antigua’s international banks, attorneys, accountants, trust companies, investment managers and advisors.

Rubenstein told the Antigua Sun that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss how best to counteract the negative publicity the country has been subjected to since the onslaught of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investigation into Antigua's largest private investor and chairman of Stanford International Bank Ltd, Allen Stanford.

According to Rubinstein, all is not lost for Antigua and Barbuda's position as a viable and credible offshore financial services centre.

The attorney listed his three proposed methods of damage control to the Sun: "There are three important issues that I believe the financial service sector and the government have to deal with. They are: (1) countering the damage to the offshore centre caused by the Stanford matter; (2) educating the world with regard to Antigua's new legislative advantages; and (3) clarify Antigua's position in the light of the US and European anti-tax haven initiatives that are taking place."

In terms of anti-tax haven initiatives, US Senator Carl Levin, along with other senators, has already drafted the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act to prevent activities "which cheat and drain our treasury of funds needed to pay for our recovery."

The Bill's target is offshore tax abuses that rob the US treasury of an estimated US$100 billion each year.

Rubenstein said that, in order to combat the potential negative repercussions of anti-tax haven legislation, Antigua and Barbuda has to ensure that the offshore financial industry operated on a tax-compliant basis.

Reprinted from Caribbean Net News: caribbeannetnews.com