Experts explained, on Tuesday 7 March, how they will move forward on anti-money laundering following the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruling on beneficial ownership, at a conference organised by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and theInstitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
In November 2022, the CJEU struck down the provision requiring disclosure of beneficial owners of companies. The judge found that public access to information on beneficial owners constitutes a serious interference with fundamental rights to privacy and personal data protection (see EUROPE 13068/28).
Roland Papp, Transparency International’s Senior Policy Officer on Illicit Financial Flows, said the decision was “a big setback”. He said he was “not too optimistic” about progress in the fight against money laundering because of this.
Viktor Ivanov, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), recalled that this decision does not concern financial intelligence units (FIUs) or law enforcement authorities. The CJEU also clarified that investigative journalists and NGOs can have access to this information in their country. The Commission is working with the co-legislators to ensure that the reform is in line with the CJEU ruling.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has begun work on the legal provisions for this ruling, according to Inês Oliveira, Policy Analyst at FATF.
Mr Papp welcomed the fact that some European countries are currently establishing a register of investigative journalists and NGOs that will be able to access it. He advocates that registration in one Member State should be valid in the other Member States.
Despite these concerns, experts have welcomed the European Commission’s anti-money laundering package, which has yet to be voted on by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13114/6).
Globalisation is widely recognised as one of the greatest challenges facing anti-money laundering professionals. “The new legislation will put the emphasis on joint analysis and will make it possible to get news not only at national but also at international level”, said Kris Meskens, Secretary General of the Belgian FIU (CTIF-CFI).
The other perspective of work for these professionals is the confiscation of assets resulting from money laundering. “Crime still pays and money laundering is profit-driven”, Mr Ivanov stressed. Of the assets derived from money laundering, only 1% are confiscated and 2% are frozen.
One of the questions raised by this problem is what states will do with these confiscated assets, Mr Papp said. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)