GFSC Defends Itself Against Bias Allegations

by Jason Gorringe, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

02 July 2003

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) was recently forced to defend itself against allegations of corruption and prejudice levelled by Sark businessman, Michael Doyle, who accused the regulator of bias against companies operating out of the island.

According to the Guernsey Press and Star, during the second Shadow Financial Services Tribunal hearing, Mr Doyle suggested that the GFSC had refused to issue his company - Castle Company Management LLC - with a licence because it wanted to shut Sark's finance industry down, and warned that a monopoly situation was being created.

However, the Commission's director of fiduciary services, Talmai Morgan explained that it was the ignorance of money laundering rules at Castle's trading company, Sark Offshore Consultancy, coupled with the number of directorships held by the firm (1,113 at the last count, down from 2,063 in 2001) that had led the GFSC to turn down Mr Doyle's application.

'It is because of all this that both at assessment level and enlarged assessment committee level it was decided last year not to grant the applicant a licence,' the GP quoted the Commission official as explaining to the tribunal.

Speaking with regard to Mr Doyle's allegation that the GFSC had deliberately picked out files which would show his company in a bad light during a visit to the Sark Offshore Consultancy's offices, Mr Morgan observed that:

'It seemed to be a very interesting display of paranoia and unsubstantiated allegations.'

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