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Criminal Law and Anti-Corruption Laws in the British Virgin Islands (BVI)

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The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has a robust legal framework that addresses various types of offenses, including illicit enrichment, bribery, criminal anti-competition, tax crimes, and government-contracting fraud.

Illicit Enrichment and Bribery

  • Illicit enrichment: Sections 81H and 81I of the BVI’s Criminal Code create offenses related to illicit enrichment by public officials.
  • Bribery of government officials: Sections 80-80E make it an offense for public officials or individuals to solicit, accept, or offer gratifications in exchange for influencing official decisions or actions.

Anti-Competition Laws

While there are few criminal anti-competition offenses in the BVI, those that exist primarily relate to telecommunications companies. This is outlined below:

  • Criminal anti-competition: There are limited criminal anti-competition laws in the BVI.
  • Cartels and other competition offenses: This section appears to be a repetition of the previous one.

Tax Crimes

While there are no applicable taxes in the BVI for businesses not licensed to trade domestically, withholding payroll tax and social security contributions is an offense for domestic market-licensed businesses:

  • Tax crimes: There are specific laws related to tax crimes in the BVI.

Government-Contracting Fraud

The following sections of the BVI’s Criminal Code create offenses related to bribery and gratifications in connection with government contracts:

  • Government-contracting fraud: Sections 81A and 81C make it an offense for public officials or individuals to solicit, accept, or offer gratifications in exchange for influencing official decisions or actions.

International Cooperation

The International Tax Enforcement (British Virgin Islands) Order 2014 requires the BVI to share tax information with the UK government:

  • International cooperation: The BVI cooperates with international authorities to enforce tax laws and regulations.