DAVID ADAMS reports…
Anti-corruption campaigners have welcomed G20 leaders’ “high priority” pledge tackling secret company ownership – a move they say will make it harder for the world’s corrupt to hide.
Transparency International said in a statement issued on Sunday that the adoption of the new High Level Principles on Benefit Ownership Transparency will require company providers to keep information on the people who ultimately own and control companies and other legal entities and share it with law enforcement bodies, financial institutions and foreign governments.
|
G20 EBOLA RESPONSE “HUGELY DISAPPOINTING”, SAYS OXFAM CHIEFOxfam has criticised the G20’s response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, saying that while its leaders recognised the long and short term impacts of the outbreak, they haven’t made any new commitments to combat it.Dr Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia CEO, said this meant there remains a “real risk” that the UN target for turning the tide on Ebola – 1st December – will not be met.“The USA, UK, EU, Canada, China and Germany are leading the way overall but the G20 Summit’s response to this crisis in hugely disappointing,” she said. |
Maggie Murphy, senior advocate at Transparency International – among the organisations calling for a clampdown on the misuse of secret shell companies to transfer and hide proceeds of corruption and tax evasion as well as other crimes, said secret company ownership structures “provide the smokescreen for the corrupt to hide”.
She said it was a “testament to the severity of the problem” that such as politically and economically diverse set of countries as the G20 adopted the principles but added that Transparency International still maintained the most efficient and effective way to share this crucial information is through public registers in all G20 countries.
“Major countries including the USA, Germany and Australia also still need to honour their existing commitments to clamp down. But the moral and political mandate for action has now been lifted to a new level.”
The organisation has also welcomed the G20 leaders’ adoption of a new G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2015-2016. It will focus on six priority areas including foreign bribery, high-risk sectors such as the extractives industry and private sector transparency and accountability.
“Australia has demonstrated strong leadership in keeping corruption on the G20 agenda,” said Greg Thompson of Transparency International Australia. “The devil will now be in the detail of what every country – including Australia – does post-Brisbane to implement these actions.”
Micah Challenge Australia said the ongoing work of the G20 in addressing the issue of global tax dodging and corruption was welcome but that the actions taken at the Brisbane summit “still fall short of the full transparency measures required to fully combat financial secrecy, and ensure developing countries benefit”.
John Beckett, national coordinator of Micah Challenge, said the G20 had sent a “clear message” that such tax dodging and corruption – which sees nations miss out on billions thanks to tax deals and the shifting of income around the world through the use of tax havens – is theft and “has to stop”.
But he added that G20 leaders had “failed to introduce any new or concrete transparency measures which benefit developing countries”. “We certainly welcome the G20’s decision to build capacity of developing nations, yet more needs to be done to close the loopholes which are enabling tax dodging and corruption to flourish in the first place.”
Oxfam – while welcoming moves to tackle tax dodging by multinational companies – said that what is currently on the table “is not enough to stop poor countries being bled dry”.
“Despite the best efforts of the OECD, most developing countries are still excluded from decision-making on global tax issues,” said Dr Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia chief executive.
“Luxembourg, a tax haven, is part of the negotiations around reform of global tax rules, but Sierra Leone – where Ebola is raging and tax incentives for six multinational companies are the equivalent of eight times the health budget – is not. This is not fair.
“Oxfam is now calling for a Global Tax Summit, where all countries participate equally in deciding fair tax rules for all.”
The organisation has also welcomed the G20’s continued commitment to inclusive and sustainable growth, but, said Dr Szoke, “it must be followed up with actions to ensure the bottom 40 per cent benefit more than the top 10 per cent”.
World Vision agreed that while the commitments for “inclusive growth” and news of moves to reduce poverty and inequality – in the final communiqué, G20 leaders said they were “committed to poverty eradication and development and to ensure our actions contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth in low income and developing countries” – were welcomed but say the statements must be followed up with concrete measures.
Tim Costello, World Vision Australia chief executive, said the efforts to boost job opportunities must be accompanied by steps to eliminate human rights abuses in global supply chains.
“No politician or policy-maker can ignore the risk that greater growth and the unchecked pursuit of profits could exacerbate the injustice of labour exploitation – particularly the exploitation of children,” he said.
“There are 168 million children in the world today who are labouring to the detriment of their health and development. That is one in 10 children over five years of age. This scourge is a drag on economic growth.”
He said the G20 cannot fulfil its key goal of improving job prospects for older youth and adults while watching child labour “depress adult wages and prevent tens of millions of children developing to their potential”.
Turkey will take over as the G20 host nation on 1st December.
