Mauritius Minister Jyoti Jeetun Rejects ‘Tax Haven’ Tag, Cites Robust Safeguards Against Black Money

By A Staff Reporter

New Delhi: Addressing concerns about black money routed through Mauritius, the island nation’s Minister of Financial Services and Economic Planning, Jyoti Jeetun, on Wednesday asserted that the country has “robust systems and procedures” to prevent financial abuse and rejected the perception of Mauritius as a tax haven.

“There is a lot of perception about this, but the reality is that we have very robust systems and procedures in place. We found ourselves on the EU grey list a few years ago, but we came out of it. We are largely compliant with all 40 FATF requirements,” Jeetun said. She added that Mauritius is preparing for its next mutual evaluation in 2027 and is coordinating daily with enforcement agencies to ensure it never returns to the grey list.

Highlighting international cooperation, the minister noted that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius earlier this year, an MoU was signed between India’s Enforcement Directorate and Mauritius’ Financial Crime Commission. The agreement aims to strengthen collaboration in intelligence sharing, capacity building, and training.

Addressing the long-standing perception of Mauritius as a tax haven, Jeetun said, “Mauritius was never a tax haven. There have been cases, as in many other countries. Even in London, you get cases like that sometimes. What we have to do is make sure our institutions are working effectively, so that if there is an abuse, we can catch it. We are constantly working on this, and we haven’t seen any recent cases of abuse.”