Canada needs to be more courageous in fighting snow washing by matching commitments from international partners such as the U.K. and E.U.
Ottawa: Canadians For Tax Fairness, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Transparency International Canada welcome measures in Budget 2018 to address corporate transparency but they fall short of what is needed to address Canada’s dirty money problem.
While Budget 2018 included measures to improve the availability of beneficial ownership information by introducing stricter reporting requirements for some trusts; it did not include any commitments to a publicly accessible registry of corporate nominees or beneficial owners — a much needed tool to tackle money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal activities.
“We’re pleased to see that more information will be required on trusts,” says James Cohen, Director of Policy & Programs at Transparency International Canada. “However, this budget mostly re-states a prior agreement between federal, provincial, and territorial governments for companies to know who their beneficial owners are, and to keep this information up to date.”
The agreement falls far short of what Canada’s international partners are doing.
“The UK was among the first countries to create a publicly accessible, searchable registry listing beneficial owners of all corporations,” says Dennis Howlett, Executive Director at Canadians For Tax Fairness, “Furthermore, this past December, all 28-member states in the EU have committed to a public registry of beneficial owners and trusts owning companies. Canada is behind.”
Shining a light with a publicly accessible registry can help to reduce the amount of ‘dirty money’ finding its way into Canada attempting to be ‘snow washed’ by both exposure and deterrence.
“Without a public registry, criminals are able to hide money by setting up shell companies which is a very easy thing to do in Canada,” says Sasha Caldera, Beneficial Ownership Program Manager at Canadians For Tax Fairness, “Getting this ownership information out in the open not only deters would-be money launderers but alleviates major headaches for banks, financial intelligence, and law enforcement, letting them do their jobs.”
In 2009, the RCMP estimated that up to 15 billion dollars is laundered through Canada each year.
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Media contacts:
James Cohen, Director, Policy & Programs
Transparency International (Canada)
james.cohen@transparencycanada.ca
416.488.3939
Dennis Howlett, Executive Director
Canadians For Tax Fairness
613.863.3670
Sasha Caldera
Beneficial Ownership Program Manager
647.861.6425