The BVI, along with other UK overseas territories like Bermuda, Anguilla, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, had pledged to implement laws by April 2025 that would allow individuals with a “legitimate interest” to access company ownership data.
UK MPs slam BVI for cartoon campaign amid missed deadline
UK politicians have criticised the BVI for missing a key corporate transparency deadline while launching a cartoon-led campaign to promote financial accountability instead.
Implementation of these laws was expected to begin by June.
However, none of the four jurisdictions has met the required April deadline for publishing these plans.
UK Member of Parliament Joe Powell, who leads a cross-party group focused on financial crime and tax, was particularly critical of the BVI in a recent UK Guardian publication.
“The British Virgin Islands have not only missed a key deadline they committed to at the Joint Ministerial Council, but are now making a mockery of UK values by unveiling a cartoon mascot instead of taking real action against economic crime,” he said.
Instead of releasing the new transparency legislation, UK MPs accused the BVI government of launching a cartoon character named Riley Right — a green parakeet dressed in a suit — to promote values like “responsibility, integrity, global awareness, honesty, and transparency”.
Riley Right is part of a wider campaign under the BVI’s National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Coordinating Council.
Critics argue that this move undermines the serious need for action. “It is deeply disappointing that the BVI and other overseas territories continue to delay the implementation of vital transparency measures,” Powell said. “The UK must now look seriously at how to ensure these longstanding commitments are delivered.”
Another MP, Phil Brickell, also questioned the BVI’s priorities. He stated: “While I welcome efforts to promote doing business the right way anywhere, surely time and money would be better spent lifting the veil of corporate secrecy in the British Virgin Islands, which has been used by the world’s crooks and kleptocrats to clean and stash their dirty cash.”
In response, a BVI government spokesperson defended the cartoon initiative, saying it was “a simple and effective way to engage the wider community and enhance understanding”. They added that looking at the campaign “in isolation would present a highly misleading depiction of the scale of work we have undertaken.”
Regarding transparency registers, the spokesperson said the BVI is “in the late stages of finalising its policy, which will be shared with the UK government imminently and published in due course”.
According to the UK Foreign Office, “all overseas territories are making progress,” and officials are staying in contact to ensure the transparency agreement’s requirements are met.
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So this cartoon is a demonstration of S!0wW@nde’s leadership on a very serious topic. We in trouble buddy
This is what Corna Lady, S!0wW@nde and the other members of the A$$C!0wn Brigade were working on during their trips to London? What the Facq. We have some really incompetent people running the show here
Do our HOA representatives have their sticky little fingers in!
Boys will be Boys.
Uk stop playing with them they are making fools of you. TAHE OVER.
UK stop playing with the Government of the BVI they are making FOOLS of you. They are doing what they want with no accountability.