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.
The BC government is launching a public inquiry into how international criminals managed to launder billions of dirty funds in the Canadian economy.
Billions in mystery money are flowing through Toronto real estate thanks to weak federal transparency laws, reveals a joint study released Thursday by Transparency International Canada, Publish What You Pay, and Canadians for Tax Fairness.
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.
