It’s been over a year since ISED and Finance consulted with stakeholders about the merits of a public registry of beneficial owners to tackle financial crime.
A coalition of organizations is urging the federal government to crack down on financial crime after Canadian banks, shell companies, and individuals were identified in a global investigation into suspicious financial activity.
The webinar will be hosted by Publish What You Pay Canada and includes coalition partners Transparency International Canada and Canadians For Tax Fairness
One of the most important tools Canada can use to fight global corruption would cost less money to build than a few kilometres of road. That was the message delivered this week by John Penrose, a member of parliament for the UK government -- the first in the world to implement a publicly accessible registry.
RCMP and the CRA recently shut down a massive international money laundering network across Canadian cities.
Victoria, B.C.: Canadians For Tax Fairness, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Transparency International Canada welcome commitments made by the B.C. Government to require that information on the true owners of B.C. properties be collected and be made public by the land registry; however, a publicly accessible registry to reveal hidden owners of companies is missing.
A public corporate registry of beneficial owners is critical for tackling money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal activities within the province.
B.C. is certainly taking a bold step to prevent misuse of real estate by money launderers, and the commitment within the 2018 provincial budget to include beneficial ownership information within its property transfer tax form and to make it publicly accessible is much needed.
Ottawa: Canadians For Tax Fairness, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Transparency International Canada applaud the announcement by the federal, provincial and territorial Finance Ministers today of cooperation on transparency of beneficial owners but are concerned that it is not yet clear and robust enough to effectively combat money laundering, tax evasion and other criminal activities. The three organizations are advocating for a public ownership registry that matches the ambition of international partners such as the U.K.
