Brussels, 19/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The governments still need to get a “step ahead” on individuals behind illegal financial flows, “ten steps ahead” in an ideal world, said Anthony Harbinson, chair of the anti-money laundering working group of the CCAB, which represents the accountancy experts.
At an event organised by the CCAB in Brussels, Krisjanis Karins MEP (EPP, Latvia), former co-rapporteur of the European Parliament for the fourth directive on money laundering, stressed the sluggishness of the legislative process. This directive, which was proposed in 2013, has taken nearly two years to get through the legislative process and will not enter into force until June 2017. Anybody wishing to exploit the loopholes in the system can see the legislation developing slowly and can get organised accordingly, Karins regretted. H e also pointed out that it was by initiative of the Parliament that a provision had been included in the directive whereby the beneficial owners of businesses will be named in central registers of the EU countries. On behalf of the NGO Transparency International, Carl Dolan explained that according to the figures of a 2011 study, the developing countries lost $946 billion in illegal financial flows, in other words related to tax evasion, crime and corruption.
Marianne Carrubba, a policy analyst from DG Justice at the European Commission, laid emphasis on the importance of a coordinated European approach to this directive on a number of points, particularly the responsibility entrusted to the Commission to carry out a supranational risk assessment, or the transparency of the beneficial owners of businesses, referred to by Karins.
More generally, the CCAB event revealed that although the EU has the right tools and the right legislation on paper, in practice these are outweighed by a lack of supervision and implementation. In October of this year, the joint committee of the European Banking Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority launched a public consultation on the guidelines on the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which will run until 22 January of next year. The recent attacks in Paris, and the terrorist threat in general, shed even more light on the importance of fighting illegal financial flows, said Harbinson. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)