New Delhi: Mauritius Financial Services Minister Mahen Kumar Seeruttun has told the country’s Parliament that the allegations of the presence of shell companies in Mauritius are false and baseless. The Mauritius minister gave this reply in response to a question about Hindenburg Research’s allegations against Adani Group.

After a Mauritius MP asked the minister about Hindenburg’s allegation of use of Mauritius-based entities for money laundering and share price manipulation for the Adani Group, the minister said shell companies are not allowed in Mauritius.

All global business companies licensed by the Financial Services Commission have to meet substance requirements on an ongoing basis as per section 21 of the Financial Services Act and are being strictly monitored by the Commission.

With respect to the allegation of Mauritius being a tax haven, the minister informed the House that Mauritius strictly complies with the international best practices and has been rated as compliant with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards.

Additionally, since 2018, Mauritius has reformed its global business framework and tax regime with a view to removing harmful tax practices. As per the peer review conducted by the OECD forum on harmful tax practices, the OECD is satisfied that Mauritius does not have any harmful features in its tax regimes, thus recognising Mauritius as a well regulated, transparent and compliant jurisdiction.

The minister said that the Financial Services Commission is monitoring the matter closely. The commission is pursuing its actions within the ambit of the relevant legislations and in line with its current supervisory process. It has been carrying out reviews of all the companies cited in the Hindenburg report, the minister said.

And as part of the Supervisory Review, the Financial Services Commission has requested and received compliance reports pertaining to all the relevant companies, which show compliance with the prevailing legislations in Mauritius. Given the multilayering of those companies cited in the report, the Financial Services Commission continues to monitor the matter diligently.

“The Financial Services Commission is collaborating with law enforcement agencies in Mauritius and overseas regulators on this matter. To conclude, I wish to draw the attention of the honourable Member of Parliament the fact that the Hindenburg report cannot be read in isolation, particularly in the light of the rebuttal report from the Adani Group,” the minister said.