EU CITIZENS SUPPORT MORE STRINGENT PENALTIES FOR MONEY LAUNDRING – IN CROATIA WE SEEK EMERGENCY ADJUSTMENT SO WE CAN FIND OUT WHO ARE REAL OWNERS OF THE COMPANIES AND OTHER LEGAL PERSONS IN ORDER TO PREVENT CORRUPTION
20.05.2015.
According to the new data released today by Transparency International, four out of five EU citizens want to discover the real owners of companies and legal entites, and only one out of four believes in the effectivness of their government to prevent money laundring in their country.
These data are published on the day when the EU has agreed with the new rules in order to prevent money laundring in the EU. Companies whose real owners are not publicly known can be used to hide funds, corruption, criminial activities, tax evasion, and to disguise corruption. There is a clear public interest to stop the illegal flow of the money. Only in the EU, 70 billion dollars disappears through various transactions.
Most of the EU governments will establish a publicly accessible register of ownership of the companies. This is what public wants, and it will contribute to investigations within and outside of the EU. The identities of many individuals involved in major corruption scandals are hidden through the use of anonymus companies, trusts and other legal entites. Analysis of the World bank and the UN showed more than 200 cases of corruption where corrupted politicans used anonymus companies and trust funds to hide their identity.
The huge amount of money is being stolen from public sources, and later it is hidden somewhere., which denies citizens better health system, education system and other services that promote quality life and progress.
„Data on the real ownership of legal entities are prerequisite for the prevention of corruption. If real owners are hidden behind individual companies money and assets can be easily hidden, used, moved or misused. For our situation it is improtant to find out who are the real owners of the media in Croatia. They have huge impact on the creation of public and opinion making. The positive social values such as honesty and responsibility can not be created if we are not familiar with the real interests of the owners which are unknown to the public.“ said Davorka Budimir, President of Transparency International Croatia
Media contact: TIC Office 091 2232011, mediji@transparency.hr
