Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Bob Richards had a front row seat at key meetings of the Anti-Corruption Summit 2016 in London today [May 12], as UK Prime Minister David Cameron pressed an ambitious agenda of global change.
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Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth meets Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at Marlborough House in London on Wednesday May 11, 2016 prior to the start of a conference to tackle corruption.
The Global Forum for Asset Recovery will bring together governments and law enforcement agencies.
Mr Cameron announced new powers to “stop the corrupt stealing their loot and hiding it from the authorities” and agreed with five other countries to disclose the ultimate owners of companies on public registers.
A summit dedicated to tackling corruption hosted by the British Prime Minister David Cameron in London yesterday culminated in worldwide pledges to prepare and publish registers of who really owns companies in a collective effort to crack down on money laundering.
Foreign companies own about 100,000 properties across England and Wales, with more than 44,000 in London alone.
The island is the first Crown Dependency to commit to an initiative on automatic exchange of company beneficial ownership information; a move spearheaded the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
Mr Cameron’s position as host of the two-day summit was made more awkward after he was caught on camera branding two participating states – Nigeria and Afghanistan – as “fantastically corrupt”.
The summit organizers also published separate statements from 40 countries, each one setting out commitments for which, Cameron said, civil society, media and others should hold governments to account.
Mr. Cameron’s Anti-Corruption Summit in London included representatives of some of the most corrupt nations on Earth.
The United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, on Friday said it was time for the global community to jointly treat corruption with the seriousness and attention it deserves.
Mr Cameron said they were looking for greater transparency and were introducing a code of conduct for professionals such as accountants, solicitors and estate agents who enabled corruption, either knowingly or unknowingly.
The UK government announced that foreign firms that own property in the UK must declare their assets publicly in a bid to stamp out money-laundering.
A further six nations, including Australia, Ireland and Norway, have said they will explore similar measures.
It is now intended that Ireland will establish a Central Register for Beneficial Ownership information on Companies and on Trusts as part of the transposition of European Union legislation.
In early reaction to the announcements, Jason Collins, head of tax, at worldwide law firm Pinsent Masons, said that the measures to increase the transparency of the ownership of United Kingdom property by offshore groups may be limited in its impact.
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Territories such as the Cayman Islands, which will be represented at the summit although the BVI and Panama will not be, say a public register is unnecessary.
