civil organisations urged European Commission to open up beneficial ownership registers to the public.
This is as 32 African and European civil society organisations have raised concerns about threats to ground-breaking EU transparency measures which could impact the much that has been achieved to put in place measures to prevent and to combat the problem of illicit financial flows out of Africa. The Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch organisations, in a statement yesterday, stated that “Illicit financial flows rob African nations of almost US$89 billion each year. Anonymous companies are often used as the get-away vehicles of the corrupt, helping syphon these funds out of Africa – often to Europe – denying countries revenues that could be used to boost economies, and fund health and education systems.
“Given the EU’s position as a global leader in beneficial ownership transparency, we fear that the ruling risks having a chilling effect on other countries that are deliberating whether or not to open up their registers, or are currently legislating for public registers.
“Company ownership transparency is not only a tool for rooting out corruption. It is also fundamental for building confidence in our business environments and critical for establishing public trust and accountability in the rules that govern us – both essential ingredients for the functioning of democracy.