Money laundering schemes frequently involve complex webs of transactions and structures that offer disguise, concealment and anonymity, and transcend international borders. The use of corporate vehicles or “structures” is a common way to launder dirty money and make it appear to come from a legitimate source.
Initiative
Open Ownership
OpenOwnership's central goal is to build an open Global Beneficial Ownership Register which will serve as an authoritative source of data about who owns companies, for the benefit of all.
OpenOwnership will collect and link together beneficial ownership data sets from across the world as well as self-disclosed corporate data to enable companies and investors to more easily see who they are really doing business with. It will provide an opportunity for companies to distinguish themselves as leaders in transparency and openness by disclosing their own ownership on the platform.
Initiative
Ownership Transparency
The online ownership transparency platform provides a clear framework for companies wishing to commit to achieving ownership transparency. Primary users of the platform include a mix of SMEs, multinational businesses and civil society. The majority of commitments come from SMEs, often with a tech focus. The goals are to:
This initiative aimed to reduce corruption and facilitate clean business and fair market conditions in Mozambique. The main aim of the project was to build ethics management capacity in Mozambican organisations (private and public sector) with a view to reduce corruption and facilitate the ease of doing business in Mozambique.
The project aims at designing a sound framework to avoid misuses and illegal practices, enhancing awareness in the business environment and among public institutions, promoting fair market conditions through clear and transparent procedures, and disseminating results to raise awareness on the issue.
This quick guide by Phyllis Atkinson looks at how criminals manipulate and misuse corporate vehicles in offshore jurisdictions to launder money. It focuses on the meaning of "corporate vehicle" and "offshore" and other related concepts such as beneficial ownership. It also gives an example of how a trust, which is one common type of corporate vehicle in the vast "offshore ecosystem", can be used for illicit purposes.
News
Malawian justice practitioners build understanding of MLA and offshore structures – and each other
At the opening of a five-day workshop in Malawi on Mutual Legal Assistance and the Misuse of Offshore Structures to Conceal Beneficial Ownership, the Honourable Justice Dr. Chifundo Kachale hit the nail on the head. Imprisonment alone is not enough, he said. Recovering the stolen assets sends a strong message that crime does not, and should not, pay.
Experts from the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) have conducted an intensive five-day training workshop in Kyiv, Ukraine for Ukrainian prosecutors, investigators and other anti-corruption practitioners. The participants learned to: