The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) recently hosted an inter-agency workshop focused on building the tax crime investigation ‘Trust Maturity Model’, as part of its ongoing efforts to increase engagement with its stakeholders.
The full day session was facilitated by former Principal Director of Income Tax of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS 1985 Batch) also former Senior Advisor for OECD’s Tax Crime Unit and consultant to the SRC, Mr. Nilimesh Baruah.
Attended by over thirty-five participants across SRC’s Tax and Customs Intelligence, Risk and Investigation Units, the insightful workshop also saw the participation of representatives from the Central Bank of Seychelles, the Financial Services Authority, the Financial Crime Investigations Unit, Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles, Financial Intelligence Unit, Ministry of Finance, the Immigration Department amongst others.
Based on the recommendation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recent report, several topics was addressed in the session, advocating for continuous inter-agency collaboration within Seychelles through the implementation of the Principle 8 of the “Fighting Tax Crime: The Ten Global Principles”, prompting the need for a whole Government approach towards financial crimes.
Besides gaining a deeper understanding on the global principles for fighting tax crimes, participants also had the chance to propose solutions to propel Seychelles compliance towards OECD’s “Principle 8 – Have an Effective Framework for Domestic Inter-Agency Cooperation” to further enable Seychelles to strengthen and safeguard it’s financial system.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, highlighting the need for inter-agency collaboration, SRC’s Commissioner General Mrs. Varsha Singh said “Inter-agencies challenges are not just technical. It is also relational. We must build effective and efficient operational connections between our respective agencies, foster mutual understanding, and create mechanisms that makes cooperation, coordination and collaboration the default, not just the exception.
“Being more than just a financial offence, tax crime corrodes public trust, undermines the rule of law, and siphons resources from the very institutions that serve our citizens and, if allowed to continue, can threaten the stability of a country. It is complex, often transnational, and increasingly intertwined with other forms of economic and financial crime. Owing to its technical complexities inherent in tax crimes and other financial crimes related to it, it becomes imperative that the combined expertise and resources of various government agencies be harnessed and addressed not as organisational silos”.
Following the successful delivery of the inter-agency collaboration, the commission extends its gratitude to Mr. Baruah for sharing his expertise and wealth of experience to the participations including all the local law enforcement agencies, financial intelligence and regulatory bodies for being part of the initiative to joining work with SRC in detecting and prosecuting tax crime in Seychelles.