Trevor Clarke (lawyer)
Sir Trevor Clarke | |
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| Born | Trevor Charles Clarke 1942 (age 82–83) New Zealand |
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Sir Trevor Charles Clarke KBE (born 1942) is a Cook Islands lawyer, businessman, and public servant. He is known as the "father of the Cook Islands tax haven".[1]
Clarke was born in 1942 in New Zealand, and moved to the Cook Islands in 1966.[2] He worked as assistant advocate general and later advocate general from 1966 to 1978.[2] In 1998, he became majority shareholder and chief executive of the Cook Islands Trading Corporation.[2] He is also a director of Island Hotels Limited. He has previously served as president of the Cook Islands Law Society and the Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce.[2]
Clarke was a key figure in the establishment of the Cook Islands as a tax haven in the 1980s,[1][3] founding the Cook Islands Trust Corporation in 1981,[4] and later becoming a co-founder of the European Pacific Group,[5] the company at the centre of the Winebox Inquiry in New Zealand. During the inquiry he worked as international financial advisor to Cook Islands prime minister Geoffrey Henry,[6] and he was later appointed chair of the Financial Supervisory Commission, responsible for overseeing the offshore finance industry.[7] He stepped down in 2010.[8] He was named as a tax haven client in the Offshore Leaks database.[1][9]
Clarke was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to business and tourism, in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Hager, Nicky (7 April 2013). "Money trail leads home to New Zealand". Stuff. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Lacanivalu, Losirene (18 June 2025). "Clarke receives knighthood for services to business and tourism". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "Tax shelter attracts corporate big fish". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 57, no. 11. 1 November 1986. pp. 46–47. Retrieved 19 June 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ McCarthy, Angela (1 September 1991). "New blood for a tax haven". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 61, no. 9. p. 60. Retrieved 19 June 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Lawyers and accountants help rich manage their money". Mail & Guardian. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ Crocombe, Ron; Crocombe, Marjorie Tuainekore (1997). "Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1995 to 30 June 1996: The Cook Islands". The Contemporary Pacific: 226.
- ^ "Cook Islands government sets up new offshore finance watchdog". RNZ News. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "Clarke steps down as FSC Chairman". Cook Islands Herald. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "Trevor Clarke, tax haven architect and current-day user". Nicky Hager. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
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