British Virgin Islands

Extracts from: Why do so many Chinese companies use the British Virgin Islands (BVI)?

By Nicholas Shaxson – author of Treasure Islands, a book about tax havens. He writes for the Tax Justice Network [TJN].

Article source: http://treasureislands.org/why-chinese-companies-flock-to-the-bvi/

Naomi Rovnick of the South China Morning Post published an excellent article in 2011 looking at the use by Chinese companies of British Virgin Islands (BVI) vehicles

She reported that ten percent of all “foreign” investment into China comes from the BVI, in fact – and growing explosively. Why so? Well, the reporter met quite a lot of obfuscation. The lawyers didn’t want to tell her; one Scottish corporate lawyer merely said ‘ask the Chinese clients’. But she extracted this telling quote from U.S. lawyer Steve Dickinson, which says it all!

“The reason for this strong link between China and the BVI is a very simple form of tax avoidance. If you take the money straight back into China you pay capital gains [or income] tax. If you leave it in the BVI, wait a while then send it back, it can be made to look to the authorities like it is a foreign investment, and you don’t pay tax on that.”

Mr Dickenson failed unfortunately to distinguish between “tax avoidance – which by definition involves getting around the law without actually breaking it, and tax evasion, which is a criminal activity. What he was is in fact talking about is Chinese interests pretending to be foreign – essentially escaping tax, illegally, through offshore deception. This is illegal. It is tax evasion.

Chinese interests pretending to be foreign – essentially escaping tax, illegally, through offshore deception. This is illegal. It is tax evasion. [Read more…]

Milk New Zealand Investments Ltd, a company registered in the tax-haven – British Virgin Islands – is inextricably connected to Chinese billionaire Zhaobai Jiang’s Hong Kong registered company Milk New Zealand Holding Ltd (“Milk NZ”), which has purchased the $200 m Crafer farms and $70.6 m Lochinver Station through its NZ incorporated subsidiaries. Milk New Zealand Investments Ltd (BVI), with Jiang as sole director, is owned by Milk NZ which in turn is owned by Shanghai Pengxin Group Co. Ltd (“Shanghai Pengxin”). The latter is owned by Nantong Investment Company Ltd, of which Jhaobai Jiang owns 99% of its shares.

1. See: www.cninfo.com.cn/finalpage/2014-06-18/64148310.PDF

2. See Company “Ownership diagram”, Overseas Investment Decision 22/01/14, Page 71 (Appendix 6)

Milk NZ [Hong Kong] entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the vendor of the Crafar farms on 19 November 2011. Milk NZ then applied to the NZ Overseas Investment Office (OIO), as it was required to do under the Overseas Investment Act 2005, seeking approval of the purchase on 12 April 2011. The OIO issued its decision dated 19 January 2012 recommending that the sale be approved by the government. On 26 January 2012 the deal was approved by two Ministers of the Crown. Following subsequent protracted litigation including a High Court challenge initiated by another bidder, the Crafar farms Pengxin NZ Farm Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Milk NZ, became the owner of the 16 Crafer farms.

Few New Zealanders would have suspected that Shanghai Pengxin, through its Honk Kong registered subsidiary, Milk NZ, for the purpose of purchasing Crafar farms, set up a NZ registered subsidiary – Milk NZ – which would be owned by the British Virgin Islands (“BIV”) registered company Milk New Zealand Investments Ltd (a subsidiary of Milk NZ [Hong Kong]) [Read more…]

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