The Cook Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand, Wilkie Rasmussen, says a plan by an investor Bill Slocum to set up a tax free haven on Palmerston atoll is highly unlikely to succceed.
Mr Slocum sent a letter about his plan to the head of the family island council, The Reverend William Masters, after the so-called Winebox affair.
But Mr Rasmussen says Mr Slocum's plans are not realistic because Palmerston would have to get approval from the Central Government on Rarotonga.
"The situation in the Cook Islands is the central government administers and passes all legislation relating to the running of all of the islands under the central government umbrella but each of the islands has got Island councils that manage its own internal matters and they are of course restricted to certain regulatory affairs."
The Cook Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand, Wilkie Rasmussen.