Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle said that rather than highlighting a problem, the leaking of 1.3 million documents from The Bahamas' corporate registry validates that The Bahamas is a transparent international financial center with a thorough and well-functioning records regime.

Given that, Rolle questioned what was really behind the attacks on The Bahamas, which have come most recently from UK financial publication The Economist and from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Both agents have savaged The Bahamas, calling the country an unrepentant "tax haven" - a designation The Bahamas disputes - and attacking the country's choice to implement automatic exchange of information for tax purposes bilaterally.

When pressed, however, all Rolle would say was, "We all know what's going on here."

Record keeping
Rolle insisted that the leaked information shows "a well-organized system of record keeping that provides detailed information on individuals that people ordinarily may or may not have concerns about".

"They make a big deal about the data leak. The fact of the matter, and the underlying issue here is whether or not The Bahamas has a system of record-keeping that allows people to see what is going on in our financial services industry. And the answer to that is yes. And the 'data leak' information supports that," he said.

According to Rolle, the leak shows that the jurisdiction is doing a good job of keeping information in a place that people can access through a systematized approach.

"Where I would have concern is if they didn't know who was investing in The Bahamas, who were opening up companies in The Bahamas, and we weren't keeping good records. Then I would be concerned that The Bahamas is not transparent, that we are not doing what we are supposed to do," he said.

Taking note of the difficulty one has opening a bank account in The Bahamas, for instance, Rolle said, "There are some countries I know - some of the same countries that criticize us and take us on - you can hop off a plane, you can walk into a bank, you can open up an account and you can have your account functional in 48 hours."

He continued, "It takes weeks to open up an account in The Bahamas. People complain incessantly about how difficult it is to do financial transactions in The Bahamas because of the over-regulation. So it begs the question, what are we really responding to?"

Doing business
Rolle said, "You should always want to know who is doing business in your country."

He said anytime an investor comes to The Bahamas, he and his team check with authorities in the investor's home city, with Interpol (the International Criminal Police Organization, an intergovernmental organization facilitating international police cooperation).

"I go deep into their affairs. And even if I did that a year ago and they come to me with a new proposal a year later, I ask them to provide the same information all over again, and they get upset..."

He turned the spotlight on the countries thought to be behind attacks on The Bahamas and other IFCs.

"Those countries can have a central database of individuals that they suspect are doing illicit activities and they can provide us with access to that database so that if there is anyone that comes to The Bahamas to do business - financial transactions or otherwise - we're able to tap into the experts, the countries that have it together, to their databases to be able to say that this person has not been cleared by... all of these organizations that are designed to ensure that transparency and accountability is functioning the way it should in the world," he said.

Issue
Rolle admitted that the apparent ease with which the information was improperly accessed was potentially "a major issue".

"If I was to choose an issue to target, I would target the fact that information is too readily available on private citizens," he said.

K. Quincy Parker, Guardian Business Editor

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