Under the shell: Ending money laundering in Europe

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Date
25 April, 2017
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Publication
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This report assesses the national anti-money laundering framework in six European countries: Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia. It focuses on beneficial ownership transparency, a key aspect of the fight against money laundering and corporate secrecy.

Under current rules and international standards, it is still possible and relatively easy to obscure the origins of money and assets and conceal the identity of the person who ultimately owns or controls them as revealed by the Panama Papers in 2016. This can be done by setting up complex structures involving shell companies and trusts in offshore secrecy jurisdictions, the use of bearer shares, using nominee directors as frontmen and proxies, or indeed a combination of all these.

The report finds areas of serious concern, as well as a number of significant weaknesses both in law and practice in the countries reviewed.

The report is available to download here and below together with the country reports.

This initiative receives the financial support of the European Commission and Accountancy Europe

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Resources

Under the shell: Ending money laundering in Europe

This report assesses the national anti-money laundering framework in six European countries: Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia. It focuses on beneficial ownership transparency, a key aspect of the fight against money laundering and corporate secrecy.

Czech country report and case studies

The country report on Czech Republic entitled Enhancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency was published in April 2017.

Dutch country report and case studies

The country report on the Netherlands entitled Behind the Scenes: Beneficial Ownership Transparency in the Netherlands was published in April 2017

 

Italian country report and case studies

The country report on Italy entitled Hidden Identities: Beneficial Ownership Transparency to Fight Corruption and Money Laundering in Italy was published in May 2017

 

Luxembourgish country report

The country report on Luxembourg was published in June 2017

Portuguese country report

The country report on Portugal entitled Shady Business: Beneficial Ownership Transparency was published in February 2017

Portuguese case studies

The Portuguese case studies were published in February 2017

Slovenian country report and case studies

The country report on Slovenia entitled Invisible Owners: Transparency of Beneficial Ownership was published in November 2016

 

Methodology for country reports

The present methodology developed by David Artingstall was used to produce the country reports. It includes guidance and questionnaires to assess beneficial ownership transparency frameworks looking both at compliance with existing standards and practices and their effectiveness.