EU Parliament votes to toughen up anti-money laundering rules

The ultimate owners of companies and trusts would have to be listed in public registers in EU countries, under draft anti-money laundering rules voted by Parliament on Tuesday.

The draft law would also require banks, auditors, lawyers, real estate agents and casinos, among others, to be more vigilant about suspicious transactions made by their clients. The aim is to make dodgy deals harder to hide and fight tax evasion.

"The public registers will make life more difficult for criminals trying to hide their money. Our economy currently loses huge amounts to tax evasion", said Civil Liberties Committee rapporteur Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, NL). "Today is a good day for law-abiding citizens, but a lousy day for criminals", added Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee rapporteur Krišjānis Kariņš (EPP, LV).

Registers to show who really stands behind a company

Under the anti-money laundering directive (AMLD), as amended by MEPs, a public central register in each EU country would list information on the ultimate beneficial owners of all sorts of legal arrangements, including companies, foundations, holdings and trusts.

These registers would be interconnected across the EU and would be "publicly available following prior identification of the person wishing to access the information through basic online registration", MEPs say. They nonetheless inserted several provisions in the amended AMLD to protect data privacy and to ensure that only the minimum information necessary is put in the register.

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