Following Panama Papers investigation, which unmasked numerous public officials using secret companies to hide their wealth, Transparency International has called on the international community to act immediately to adopt transparency laws to outlaw secret companies.
“A global investigation into the use of secret companies by the rich, powerful and corrupt has shown how a network of lawyers, bankers and others around the world hide illicit wealth. Transparency International calls on the international community to act immediately to adopt transparency laws to outlaw secret companies,” reads an organization’s statement posted on Monday.
According to Transparency International, the Panama Papers, a massive leak of financial documents, reveal the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials, including 12 current and former world leaders, who used more than 214,000 offshore entities to hide the ownership of assets.
“The Panama Papers investigation unmasks the dark side of the global financial system where banks, lawyers and financial professionals enable secret companies to hide illicit corrupt money. This must stop. World leaders must come together and ban the secret companies that fuel grand corruption and allow the corrupt to benefit from ill-gotten wealth,” said Jose Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International.
Transparency International called for a renewed push for G20 countries to agree that public beneficial ownership registers should be the global standard, and sanctions applied to jurisdictions that do not conform to this standard. This would include not just the G20, but also the numerous countries big and small where the creation of secret companies is big business.
“How many more massive document leaks do world leaders need to see to understand that the lack of public registers of beneficial owners of companies is what keeps global grand corruption schemes alive and well?,” Ugaz stressed.
Moreover, Transparency International wants public registers of all companies’ beneficial owners to make it harder for the corrupt to hide their illicit wealth in secret companies and trusts that use nominees to register ownership.
