Toronto, November 14th 2018 —Canadians for Tax Fairness, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Transparency International Canada, welcome the House of Commons Finance Committee’s report and recommendations of its recent review of Canada’s Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA).
Of the 32 recommendations, the committee is proposing updates that would greatly improve Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regime. Notable highlights in the recommendations are a national centralized private registry of beneficial ownership that covers companies and trusts; extending current PCMLTFA reporting obligations to designated non-financial business and professions such as lawyers, casinos and realtors; and a call for greater technical and legal capacity of law enforcement. However, despite testimony from numerous experts and acknowledging trends in the U.K. and the European Union, the committee stops short of recommending a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry across all jurisdictions in Canada.
The recommendation to expand designated non-financial business and profession reporting is also welcome because money laundering is shifting into real estate and directed through casinos. James Cohen, Executive Director of Transparency International Canada highlights that “solicitor-client privilege – when misused on behalf of lawyers – can conceal the identity of those seeking to launder money and has received considerable media attention in Vancouver”.
Furthermore, the recommendation for a centralized registry of beneficial ownership that would cover businesses and trusts is a timely and ambitious proposal. “This responds to a unified call across industry, law enforcement, and civil society for the inclusion of businesses and trusts in a national registry,” says Emily Nickerson, Director of Publish What You Pay Canada.
In contrast to expert opinion and emerging best practice, the committee shies away from recommending a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry in Canada. A publicly accessible registry serves as a stronger deterrence tool to safeguard the Canadian economy against “snow-washing” in comparison to a private registry because it is subject to comprehensive scrutiny.Publicly accessible registries let investigative journalists and independent experts conduct forensic analyses, which can help the Canadian government improve the effectiveness of its own registry. This is something that is not possible in a private registry because access is exclusively limited to reporting entities and authorities. “We urge Federal Finance Minister, Bill Morneau to embrace an open government approach and allow a reasonable amount of information to be made available to the public. Public registries are gaining momentum and Canada needs to keep pace.,” says Sasha Caldera, Program Manager, Canadians For Tax Fairness.
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For media enquiries please contact:
James Cohen, Executive Director, Transparency International Canada
416-488-3939
Sasha Caldera, Program Manager, Canadians For Tax Fairness
647-861-6425
Emily Nickerson, Director, Publish What You Pay Canada
519-803-3502