The UK is to create what the government calls the world’s first ever International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, hosted in London, in partnership with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Interpol.
Experts, including from the National Crime Agency, will provide international co-ordination and support to help law enforcement agencies and prosecutors work together across borders to “investigate and punish corrupt elites and recover stolen assets”.
Another new initiative sees the introduction of a public beneficial ownership register which any foreign company that wants to buy UK property or bid for central government contracts will have to join. It will include companies who already own property in the UK, not just those wishing to buy.
This will be the first register of its kind anywhere in the world, the prime minister’s office said.
Public registers of beneficial ownership
In a further development, France, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Afghanistan are to commit to launch their own public registers of company ownership, while Australia, New Zealand, Jordan, Indonesia, Ireland and Georgia will agree to take the initial steps towards making similar arrangements.
The UK will launch its own fully public register next month which it said makes it the first G20 country to do so.
In addition, a total of 40 jurisdictions, including a number of overseas territories and crown dependencies have signed up to automatically share their beneficial ownership registers with other countries.
Speaking today at the meeting of world leaders at Lancaster House in London, Cameron said: “Today is just the start of a more co-ordinated, ambitious global effort to defeat corruption.”
In early reaction to the announcements, Jason Collins, head of tax, at international law firm Pinsent Masons, said that the measures to increase the transparency of the ownership of UK property by offshore groups may be limited in its impact.
“If these companies that own the property are ultimately held by a trust, the company may only need to note the trustee on the register. I suspect there will be a clamour for the rules to require settlors, protectors and the ultimate beneficiaries of those trusts to be disclosed. A lot of HNWs will think that is pushing transparency too far at the expense of their privacy.”
