running story
Mauritius tries to brush up the reputation of its offshore financial sector
Port-Louis's financial district. © Ashok Prabhakaran/CC BY-SA 2.0

Mauritius tries to brush up the reputation of its offshore financial sector

After having been put on the European Union's money laundering blacklist in October, Mauritius is using diplomacy to try to improve its image. Business and political bodies are pleading its case with the string of international organisations which issue reports and blacklists on financial criminality, including, notably, the Financial Action Task Force, the OECD and the EU. Their aim is to reassure the investors who have been using the island as their business base for years.

Port-Louis's financial district. © Ashok Prabhakaran/CC BY-SA 2.0
Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais.

Mauritius ambiguous over sanctions against Swiss-Angolan financier Jean-Claude Bastos 

Five years after he was accused of defrauding the Angolan sovereign fund he was managing, Swiss-Angolan financier Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais has finally been banned from managing companies in Mauritius. The sanction was slow in coming and has fallen at a bad time for Mauritius as it faces criticism from the European Union for having failed to take more drastic action against money laundering.

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