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FIU attends international forum on Ukrainian asset recovery |03 May 2014

The Seychelles Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has attended a high-level international meeting to support the government of Ukraine in recovering stolen assets.
The Ukraine forum on asset recovery was jointly organised by the United Kingdom and the United States of America on April 29-30, 2014 in London.

The two-day meeting, opened by UK Home Secretary Theresa May, brought together representatives of key international financial centres and international organisations to bolster collective action, foster direct exchange between practitioners and plan practical steps towards the goals of tracing and recovering stolen assets and of sending a strong message that there can be no impunity for those who carry out such illegal actions.

Some of the key objectives of the meeting included: reaffirming the political commitment of the international community in tracing and recovering stolen assets, facilitating international cooperation for the early tracing of such assets and addressing ways of tracing assets hidden behind complex corporate structures;

While a number of multilateral meetings took place, allowing government officials, judicial experts, prosecutors and financial investigators to interact, there were also important bilateral meetings between different states impacted by the illicit money flows and opaque beneficial ownership trails.

A critical issue for discussion, of importance to Seychelles, was the availability and accessibility of beneficial ownership information (the ‘flesh and blood’ identities of those who own and exercise control of offshore structures and associated bank accounts) in jurisdictions incorporating offshore companies and establishing offshore bank accounts. This issue of transparency and beneficial ownership has emerged as a leading issue on the international stage, driven by the G8 and the G20.

The UK government has led on this issue, publicly committing itself to the establishment of a public central registry of beneficial ownership information despite strong objections from industry and the legal profession. It has taken the further step of calling on the authorities of British overseas territories such as British Virgin Islands (BVI), Bermuda, the Caymans and the Isle of Man, to do likewise.

In March this year, the European Parliament in a landslide vote of 643 to 30 strongly endorsed a revision of the European Union (EU) Anti-Money Laundering measures, to include a proposal for the creation of national central registries for beneficial ownership of companies, trusts and other legal structures. This will make it much harder for criminals and corrupt politicians to hide their identities, and their illicitly-acquired assets, behind anonymous companies and trusts.

There is, however, no universal consensus in the EU on the form a central registry should take. Most EU States already host a central registry of directors and shareholders but the new directive requires that this be extended to identifiable beneficial owners. While all understand the need for this to be accessible by law enforcement, many see problematic issues with the register being made public.

The Seychelles needs to closely monitor international developments and the emergence of de facto standards in this rapidly changing environment and policy makers, regulators, related agencies and industry need to work together to achieve the best possible solution to meet both our national interest and our international responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the Seychelles FIU will continue to cooperate with its international partners on a number of bribery and corruption investigations in accordance with the UN Convention Against Corruption.

 

 

 

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