Why we need to know who own EU companies | Transparency International

There is now a global consensus that criminals and the corrupt should not be allowed to abuse corporate secrecy to mask their ownership of ill-gotten wealth. However, the corporate transparency agenda suffered a serious blow on 22 November 2022, when the EU’s highest court invalidated the anti-money laundering provision guaranteeing public access to information on companies’ real – or ’beneficial’ – owners. Prior to the ruling, 22 out of 27 EU countries had opened up their company beneficial ownership registers, enabling investigations into suspicious assets worldwide. By the end of November, eight countries had suspended public access to their registers. Maíra Martini (Transparency International), Paul Radu (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) and Andres Knobel (Tax Justice Network) explain why public access to this data so critical, and what needs to happen next. More on this issue: Produced by Oblique Collective for Anti-Corruption Data Collective and Transparency International #transparencyinternational #beneficialownership #dirtymoney