Law Firm Responds to Tax Shelter Allegations

We have cooperated fully with the U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") in the preparation of its report and devoted many weeks working to provide it with the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on our business, our areas of expertise, the nature of our client base and the reasons clients choose to incorporate in the Cayman Islands.

We have explained to the GAO how the Cayman Islands provide commercial vehicles for bringing together investors from around the world to participate in multinational business or financing arrangements without triggering a further layer of taxation on top of the investors' home country tax, and the practical business benefits of doing business in the Cayman Islands. Those include its legal system, which is based on English law; its established judiciary system; its ability to access global capital; its absence of political and sovereign concerns; its regulatory and professional infrastructure, which is capable of implementing large and complex international business transactions; its robust regulatory compliance system; and its tax neutrality, which prevents double-taxation.

We have also explained to the GAO why it is not unusual to have several thousand businesses list the same address as their registered office or legal home, for example, more than 200,000 entities are registered at one address in Wilmington, Delaware. A company's registered office address, whether in the Cayman Islands or Delaware, serves a narrow function, namely to act as the statutory address for receipt of documents relating to litigation and similar matters.

Finally, we have stressed to the GAO that secrecy is absolutely not a motivator for our clients coming to the Cayman Islands. The factors listed above, together with the presence -- not the absence -- of a robust and healthy compliance culture of financial regulatory standards which equal and often exceed international benchmarks, are the driving factors behind the Cayman Islands' growth as an institutionally-focused financial centre.

The 750 employees of the Maples group worldwide work hard to maintain our hard-won reputation for compliance in all our operating jurisdictions, including London, Hong Kong, Dublin, Dubai, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.

About Maples and Calder

Maples and Calder is a law firm that advises financial, institutional and business clients around the world on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Ireland and the British Virgin Islands. We specialise in asset and project financing, banking, capital markets, captive insurance, commercial and private trusts, commercial and trust litigation, corporate, insolvency and corporate restructuring, international equity offerings and listings, mutual and hedge funds, securitisations, structured debt and venture capital. Maples and Calder serves its global client base through offices in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, London, Dublin, the British Virgin Islands and Dubai.

For media inquires: Thor Valdmanis at 212-850-5696 or thor.valdmanis@fd.com