UN General Assembly To End Anonymous Shell Companies

UN General Assembly To End Anonymous Shell Companies
700 signatories from 120 countries ask UNGASS 2021 to set a new global
standard on beneficial ownership transparency
24 February 2021
Transparency International today submitted an appeal to the UN General Assembly from almost
700 signatories calling for a new global standard for transparency in company ownership. The
appeal comes ahead of the UN General Assembly Special Session Against Corruption, UNGASS
2021, scheduled for June. It asks that UNGASS 2021 commits all countries to set up national,
public registers of companies, disclosing the real individuals who own, control or benefit from
them.
The signatories include renowned academics and research centres, companies and business
executives, civil society groups and activists as well as several government agencies and public
officials.
Go to the full text and the list of signatories
“All parts of our societies around the world have spoken. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from
indigenous peoples’ groups to tax justice advocates, from distinguished diplomats to multinational
companies, we all agree: anonymous companies are vehicles for corruption and other
illicit practices that jeopardise the common good. We are asking country representatives
preparing for the UNGASS 2021 to heed this call for urgent action,” said Gillian Dell, Head of
Conventions Unit at Transparency International.
Numerous investigative reports and scandals have shown that anonymous companies enable
and fuel corruption and other financial crimes. The recent OpenLux investigations highlighted
the power of public registers of beneficial ownership for identifying suspicions of money
laundering, corruption, tax evasion and other criminal activity.
Maíra Martini, Research and Policy Expert at Transparency International said: “In recent years,
many countries have made progress towards ending the abuse of anonymous companies – most
recently the United States. But, as our campaign shows, there is an overwhelming consensus
that fundamental fixes are necessary across the board. Criminals and the corrupt must have
nowhere to hide their ill-gotten loot. This means universal adoption of public beneficial
ownership registers, based on a robust definition of beneficial ownership and accompanied by
strong verification processes.”
Notes to editors
See also:
 Leading economists, trade unions, diverse civil society groups call on UN General
Assembly to end anonymous companies (9 December 2020)
 International Anti-Corruption Day 2020: UNGASS 2021 offers a key opportunity to tackle
the global crisis of corruption (9 December 2020)
 Is a new global standard in sight? (8 January 2021)
 Open Lux: 80 per cent of Luxembourg private investment at risk of laundering dirty
money (8 February 2021)