Winner of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize

The Sovereign Art Foundation announced Pala Pothupitiye as the winner of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize last night at a gala dinner and auction sponsored by Julius Baer, leading Swiss private banking group with a longstanding tradition of supporting the arts. Hailing from Sri Lanka, Pala was the recipient of the US$25,000 prize for Jaffna Map, in which he recrafts official maps of Jaffna, located in the northern tip of Sri Lanka and a key city in the war between the Tamil Tigers from the north and the southern Sinhala Lions. Ferocious teeth and claws of Lions and Tigers decorate the land mass, while the ‘internally displaced persons’ are represented in the border areas, being chased away from the bestial clash.

The winner of the US$1000 Schoeni Prize, which was determined by a public vote, was also announced as Anton Del Castillo, for Toy Soldier.

Over 400 nominated entries from across Asia were received this year, of which 30 finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges: David Elliott, Fumio Nanjo, Lars Nittve, Tan Boon Hui, David Tang and Xu Bing. The works of the remaining 29 finalists were auctioned off last night, with sales totalling over US$300,000. Half of the proceeds go to the artists and the other half is donated to arts charities supported by The Sovereign Art Foundation. The winning artwork is retained by The Sovereign Art Foundation in order to promote the artist and Asian art to the community at large. The work will be eventually donated to a museum or used to further charitable causes.

Major auction results include:

• Artificial Wonderland No.2 by Yang Yongliang, US$35,000
• Witness from Baghdad by Halim Al-Karim, US$24,000
• After a Hard Day’s Work by Amanullah Mojadidi, US $14,000

A special edition Gucci watch, inspired by the Grammy Awards, was presented to the highest bidder on the evening.

Howard Bilton, Chairman of The Sovereign Group, commented, “Our judges were particularly impressed with the standard of entries this year. I think we certainly found the strongest ever group of finalists. It was therefore no surprise that nearly all works found buyers at above estimated prices. We expect many of these mid-career artists to go onto bigger and better things in the near future and buyers will find they picked up a real bargain even if they paid well over estimate.”

The 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize was principally sponsored by Julius Baer, the 120-year-old Swiss bank with an unwavering tradition and dedication in supporting the arts. Andrea Benenati, CEO Hong Kong & North Asia stated, “We are proud of our sponsorship of The 2010 Asian Sovereign Art Prize which marked our first step in supporting the development of Asia’s art scene. As we decisively growing Asia into our second home market, we hope to continue to extend our global commitment of nurturing artistic talents to the Asia region. ”

Winner Pala Pothupitiye stated, “I am deeply honoured to be recognised by the prestigious Sovereign Asian Art Prize. I am proud to be able represent Sri Lankan art and share it with the greater Asian region. The prize money will enable me to actualize ideas and work on projects that I otherwise would be unable to pursue and raise awareness for Sri Lankan art.”

This year, The Sovereign Art Foundation has pledged to continue its support to help the children in M’Lop Tapang in Cambodia and Kalki in India using the arts as rehabilitation and therapy. The Foundation will also be launching a new partnership with the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Vietnam. Bilton commented, “Our thanks go to everyone who supported us this year. This money will make a real difference to the charities we support. We are going to be able to improve the lives of a significant number of disadvantaged children.”

Held at the Four Seasons hotel, the gala dinner attracted 360 guests, including a panoply of high-profile members of Hong Kong’s arts, fashion, and business arenas, such as Vivienne Tam, Irene Wan, Bob and Stacey Morse, Dr. Mohindra Boya and Lina Ross, and Nick and Melanie Simunovic.

India to get bank details from Switzerland starting April: Government of India

NEW DELHI: India will be able to access banking information from Switzerland in specific cases beginning April 1, 2011, Parliament was told today. India and Switzerland had signed an agreement on August 30, 2010 to amend the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to facilitate exchange of information between the two countries.

"The amended DTAA (with Switzerland) will enable India to get banking information in specific cases for a period beginning April 1, 2011 and thereafter", Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The revised DTAA with Switzerland was signed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Micheline Calmy-Rey, head of Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. While the India has completed the formalities for implementation of the revised DTAA, Switzerland has yet to ratify the agreement, Mukherjee said in reply to another query.

"The amending Protocol will enter into force on completion of the internal process by Switzerland. Switzerland has informed that they have still not completed their internal process as the Amending Protocol has yet not been ratified by their Parliament", Mukherjee said.

The revised DTAA, according to Palanimanickam, will, "specifically provide for exchange of banking information as well as information without domestic interest". The Amending Protocol, he added, "contains a provision wherein the requesting state has to provide the name of the person under examination or investigation and, if available, other particulars facilitating that person's identification such as address, date of birth, marital status and tax identification number."

The revised agreement with Switzerland, however, will not allow "fishing expeditions", a term used for seeking general information. "The Amending Protocol also provides that these clauses contain important procedural requirements that are intended to ensure that fishing expeditions do not occur. Nevertheless they need to be interpreted in order not to frustrate effective exchange of information", the Minister added.

Pointing out the government does not have any verifiable information on the total amount of money deposited in Swiss banks by Indian nationals, Palanimanickam said the Finance Ministry was getting a fresh study done on unaccounted income and wealth within and outside the country.
"The proposal (of study) was approved by the government in January 2011. The study is likely to be completed within a timeframe of 18 months", he added.

The government is committed to tax undisclosed income of Indian residents within and outside the country, the Minister said, adding "this also include undisclosed deposits in other countries including Switzerland. Since this in an on-going process, no time frame can be fixed for the same".

Confusion over UAE Inheritance Law for Expats

By Vikrant Pangam

Sovereign Group, Abu Dhabi Office

There have been many conflicting views on inheritance laws in the UAE. "If I were to pass away in the UAE and my bank accounts are frozen, how is my wife to access my funds? What about my will written in the UK?" As these questions among others - were directed to a panel of legal experts at a symposium held at Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) on 28th February 2011, not all elicited easy answers.

The panellists, who admitted to a gaping conflict of views on inheritance laws in the UAE, said they would persuade the government to bring about greater clarity on such matters.
"A lawyer can say to you we cannot guarantee you anything because in a civil code country, judges are not bound by judgments of previous cases," said Cynthia Trench, Principal of legal firm Trench & Associates, which organised the symposium at the ADCCI.

"We have a lot of conflicts here because of which courts are giving conflicting judgments, lawyers are giving conflicting advice and the press is giving conflicting articles," she said.

To illustrate her point, Trench referred to different sections of the law and said on the one hand, we can look to the law of domicile of expatriates, Article 17 (1), to determine the distribution of properties or assets. On the other, Article 17 (5) says the laws of the UAE shall apply to wills made by expatriates disposing of their property in the state. And there's Article 2 (Civil Transactions Code), which says the principles of Islamic jurisprudence shall be relied upon in interpreting these provisions. "What law should we apply?" she wanted to know.

Cynthia further cited recent Dubai Court Cases and explored that

1. Presently the majority of the judges apply Sharia Law and ignore any Foreign Wills;

2. Even if you manage to obtain the ears of a sympathetic judge, it would take over 12 months and could cost more than Dhs 50,000 (Advocate fees, notarisation and legalisation of the Foreign documents, translation costs and foreign lawyers’ fees).

Dwelling on a document issued by the Notary Public on wills for non-Muslims which says, "Write it, Attest it, Keep it", Trench referred to Para 12 which in effect notes that the decision would not be upheld by the competent court.

To avoid such unfavourable implications, the most certain way moving forward is to take the ownership of your assets, bank accounts and properties offshore. The UAE laws at the moment allow Expatriates to own any assets under an offshore company, which in effect takes the assets outside UAE jurisdiction for inheritance purposes.

Pictures from the Recent Sovereign Art Foundation Show

UK sees “non-dom” departures as £30,000 charge kicks in

HM Revenue & Customs reported, on 13 January 2011, that the number of UK "non-domiciled" residents had declined from 139,000 to 123,000 in the year prior after the launch of the £30,000 remittance basis charge in April 2008.

McGrigors, the law firm that secured the figures under a Freedom of Information request, said the 11.5% decline was the first for five years and was likely to have been repeated in 2010 as more long-term non-doms became liable to the change.

The UK coalition government has pledged a review to assess whether non-doms were making “a fair contribution to reducing the deficit” and a Treasury spokesman said last night that the review was “ongoing” and a further announcement would be made at the appropriate time.

About 5,400 people paid the £30,000 non-dom levy for the 2008/09 tax year, more than the 4,000 predicted by the Treasury prior to the tax’s introduction. This collected around £162 million, with £350 million forecast for 2009/10. The Treasury has estimated that non-doms pay around £4 billion in income tax each year, on top of the tax they pay on capital gains on UK assets, stamp duty and value added tax on spending, which brings the estimated total to £7 billion.