The Monaco Monitor

The project of construction of the future hospital of Monaco advances. The list of the candidates admitted to contribute was revealed to the press Friday December 22 by the Minister of State, in the presence of François Silvani, Director of the Hospital complex Princess Grace and Jean-Marie Véran, Director of the department of public works. Five groupings of control of work (on eleven candidatures) were selected. From next January, these five candidates will have four months to prepare studies of draft for the future hospital and to submit their project to the government. The prize winner of the contest will be designated with the autumn 2007. 

One knew it before even the votes but it has been officially confirmed Wednesday last evening. The primitive budget 2007 was adopted by 14 vote for and 9 abstentions. After 4 evenings more or less stormy, the primitive budget 2007 was adopted in the majority. No the surprise thus since the various commissions meet before the vote to discuss points of obstacle. 

The Commission in charge of local matters concerning cross-border co-operation between the Principality of Monaco and the French Republic met for the second time in Monaco on 15th December 2006. The last commission meeting on 13th July had resulted in the establishment of a methodological framework to implement action. The Commission was presided over by H.E. Jean-Paul Proust, Minister of State, for Monaco and co-presided over by H.E. Serge Telle, French Ambassador in Monaco and Dominique Vian, Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, for France. Christian Estrosi, Minister for National Planning and Development and President of the General Council of the Alpes-Maritimes, Jacques Peyrat, Senator, Mayor of Nice and President of the Nice-Côte d’Azur Conurbation Committee, Jean-Claude Guibal, Deputy, Mayor of Menton and President of the French Riviera Conurbation Committee, as well the Mayors of the communities bordering the Principality, also took part in the discussions. The meeting focused mainly on improving rail and road travel conditions, as well as the project to build a funicular railway between La Turbie and Monaco. Furthermore, both parties agreed to strengthen co-operation in terms of economic and cultural development. In this respect, the Monaco Government has also announced the Principality’s partnership with the candidature of the Cote d’Azur Metropolis as European capital of culture 2013. Generally speaking, matters of common interest will be dealt with by specialised task forces, the meetings of which will be held shortly.  

Monaco Millionaires — the elite group of business people who reside outside the UK to slash their tax bill — face a crackdown by Revenue & Customs on the number of days they can spend in Britain, after a surprise legal decision. Accountants accused HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of introducing a stealth tax on the wealthy after it ignored its own guidelines to pursue a case against Robert Gaines-Cooper, a Seychelles-based multimillionaire. (more…)

The Government already announced to have reduced the deficit of the primitive budget 2007 envisaging even according to words’ of the Minister of State “a real deficit lower than 80 million euros”. “There is no impoverishment of the reserve funds since the results of the only OPCVM are in increase”, Said the Minister of State Mr. Jean-Paul Proust. (more…)

The Principality of Monaco and the French train company SNCF signed a convention which will increase the train services through Monaco by 25 per cent, particularly during rush hours, by 2009. Monaco has agreed to buy five new regional trains for 50 million euro in return for a better service that will increase the number of trains on the line from 75 to 100 a day by 2009. The agreement was signed by Monaco’s Minister of State Jean-Paul Proust, Anne-Marie Idrac, President of SNCF, and Gérard Piel, Vice-President in charge of transport in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region.

Robert Gaines-Cooper, a British multi-millionaire who claimed residency in the Seychelles, is reported to be facing tax bills going back to 1993, in a court decision which could impact on the status of UK millionaires in Monaco. The case centers on how British tax authorities determine residence and domicile status for the purposes of paying tax. Currently, a British citizen can claim non-residency, and have the right not to pay tax to Britain, provided they do not spend more than 183 days in any single year in the UK or an average of 90 days a year over a period of four years. However, because days of entry and departure have not counted, many wealthy businessmen have been able to fly to the UK early Monday morning and be back late Wednesday night, having done effectively three days work which only represented one day out of the permissible 90. HM Revenue & Customs, which took the case to court, appears to have ignored its own guidelines to pursue Mr. Gaines-Cooper, arguing that despite the fact he was within the 90-day ruling he had very close links to his homeland. His wife reportedly spends most of her time in the UK and their son is at school there. HM Revenue & Customs wanted to count every night spent in the UK – not just the days – and the Special Commissioners, who hear tax disputes before they go to the High Court, upheld that aim. 
Mr. Gaines-Cooper plans to appeal, but the ruling will have sent shivers down the backs of Monaco’s Millionaires - and their wives.

Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (CMB) and ABN AMRO Private Banking have reached an agreement on the acquisition of the private banking activities of ABN AMRO in Monaco by CMB, part of the Mediobanca Banking Group. (more…)

Mr. Louis RUE, VINCI, FCC CONSTRUCCION S.A, TRADIMEX S.A.M., S.A.M. MONTE-CARLO SEA LAND, FLOAT INCORPORATED, MONTE-CARLO DEVELOPMENT COMPAGNY – MCDC, STRUCTURE ILE DE FRANCE, FONCIERE MARITIME S.A.M.,BNP PARIBAS IMMOBILIER,BARWA REAL ESTATE,SOLIDERE,MADRID INVERSIONES S.A.., PASTOR SAM, DELLA TORRE S.A.M. and  GENTING INTERNATIONAL

Sixteen candidates have made the application deadline to undertake the massive land extension in the Principality. No further applications will be accepted, as Halloween was the deadline. The difficult job ahead for Prince Albert II, whose brainchild this is and his government is to study each candidature submitted, seven of which are Monegasque companies. (more…)