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Which countries don't have public UBO registers?
- Thread starter 7889
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United Arab Emirates(you can only search trade name for several jurisdictions in UAE)
This is of course true, but still i was wondering if there are still some fun loopholes.
For instance, Finland, which you would think would be in a forefront of any AML regulations only started collecting UBO information in July of last year.
EU countries vary greatly in IT development too, i could hardly imagine all of them are efficient in building up and running these databases.
Bulgaria collects UBO information but has no working UBO register and most definitely won't have a public working one for at least 2 more years (very optimistic timeline if you ask me).
As part of EU's 5th AML directive it is mandatory that all EU states have public UBO registers period!!! You can view the status of UBO registers for each EU state and where to find them in following KPMG doc I have posted ages on this forum
.https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2018/07/gls-transparency-register-web.pdf
Some people considered to simply use nominees, homeless mexican, poor people in the baltic countries or similar to hide your identity? you can pick up someone of these guys, give him 500 euro, some nice and clean clothes and take him with you in the bank and tell him to sign whatever they say.
Pretty easy and fun.
Pretty easy and fun.
Wait a minute 500???? That is way too much my friend for an hours work. 25 euros at best.
ahh my fault... people may pick up a girl, so when she has signed you can use her for even more fun, the 500 should cover it
Wonder what happens, she spends 500 and keeps keys to the kingdom in her head.ahh my fault... people may pick up a girl, so when she has signed you can use her for even more fun, the 500 should cover it
Now we're talking! Thanks a lotAs part of EU's 5th AML directive it is mandatory that all EU states have public UBO registers period!!! You can view the status of UBO registers for each EU state and where to find them in following KPMG doc I have posted ages on this forum
https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2018/07/gls-transparency-register-web.pdf
Then again, as far as i understand, just split the shares between 4 entities with no one holding more than 25% and you don't have too report anything anywhere... could it really be that simple?
You could own the shares in a UK company through 4 other companies, each owning 25%. In theory you don't need to report anybody as a PSC, however if you beneficially own more than 25%, even indirectly as I just described, you are not complying with the law. See this link for more info, specifically 5.4.1 and 5.4.4-5.4.8 on pages 25-27: https://assets.publishing.service.g...28/170623_NON-STAT_Guidance_for_PSCs_4MLD.pdf
You may want to look at the above document for Bulgaria
I also happen to live there my friend.
Here's how it actually works:
1. For already existing companies:
- Nobody asks for anything UBO related, until you try to open a new bank account where they present you with a declaration to sign that you are/aren't - > who is the UBO.
2. You want to form a new company? Great.
- Nobody asks for anything UBO related, until you try to open a new bank account where they present you with a declaration to sign that you are/aren't - > who is the UBO.
But Alex, you may ask, the company register is public, can't anybody just look up the UBO of a company?
It sure is public and free to search, mind you. The information there however....is simply what YOU have provided them with and nobody will ever bother to check on somehow "investigate" or "enforce" such things or in other words...you form a company, you (practically) are my nominee, you give me a simple power of attorney to use the company's bank account, after which I simply go to the bank and do whatever the hell I want without anybody asking questions. Keep in mind that banks are going crazy with the whole AML / source of income thing here as well though and require you to fill some BS declaration of funds when you try to make a transfer above 15k€/30k BGN.
I don't have much experience with Bulgaria, but I can tell you this - they will eventually investigate it if there will be a reason for it. No doubt about that.
They can't really investigate much in terms of UBO's and this whole EU directive is absolute lunacy if you ask me because here is a practical situation:
Persons A, B and C are (practically) the UBOs of about 6 companies.
The documented legal owners of these companies are persons D (the car valet guy), E (a friend of a friend of person A) and E (an unofficial employee of A, B and C) which on paper have nothing to do with persons A, B and C.
The document link between these 6 companies is the fact that they share the same office (which may be practically true as well).
However here's a fun fact, there are about 3 more companies registered at this office which simply happen to not be based there anymore and the office secretary is kind enough to forward their mail to their actual office.
Now here's the even funnier fact: the first 6 companies share the same accountant who actually works in the office and that accountant happens to have power of attorney of all 6 companies.
That accountant also performs all bank transfers, transactions and cash withdrawals.
Any deals involving property, signing contracts etc are performed by either the legal owners of the companies themselves, an attorney with a power of attorney or again - the accountant.
Any company income is distributed as dividends to the legal owners D, E and F which they themselves withdraw in cash and hand over to persons A, B and C or simply if...say a car is being bought, it gets bought by the companies and the companies happen to provide persons A, B and C with power of attorney over the car.
Then persons A, B and C either pay for stuff in cash, deposit average amounts over time in their bank accounts or simply go to the casino, deposit as much as they wish playing roulette and at maximum, lose about 2-3% of it (sometimes even win some lol).
So please now that you have a complete picture, please tell me if you have to "prove" who the UBO of say...company 3 is, how the actual f**k would you go about doing so?
What exactly will you end up with? Arresting the accountant for being the undisclosed UBO? lol.
Arresting everybody in the office and asking them ARE YOU THE UBO!?
P.P. Wanna end money laundering? Revise and unify accounting requirements of the following: Banks, Night clubs, Sports teams and leave stuff like people trying to buy some Bitcoin alone for f**k's sake, ooh and simply ban cash payments and boom, you're done.
Wanna end secrecy of ownership? Well too fucking bad, you can't. Leave people the f**k alone with the EU bureaucracy.
Wanna end tax evasions? Go US style on citizens and prosecute overseas income by demanding information from foreign governments by simply demonstrating your big military dick.
Wanna actually run a country decently and let people prosper there? Do nothing of the above and counter THE REASONS people actually resort to doing the above and not the action itself.
Just my 2c as an EU citizen.
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You are required by law to show the real UBO's and if these have changed - you have to inform about this as well. You either do it against the law or by law. If we are talking about legitimate businesses - I doubt someone will be trying to get jail time for tax evasion.
You are required by law to show the real UBO's and if these have changed - you have to inform about this as well. You either do it against the law or by law. If we are talking about legitimate businesses - I doubt someone will be trying to get jail time for tax evasion.
That is true, but as you can see by my very practical example - the law itself is absolutely practically inapplicable since you can simply not follow it and it's practically impossible for the government to ever prove your wrongdoing because....well...that's simply how business works in practice.
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