Juncker hinders exposing European Union corruption

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Luxembourg Tax Storm Hits New EU Chief Juncker

6 November 2014

A storm of outrage over Luxembourg’s role in helping global companies avoid tax plunged its former leader into controversy in his first week running the European Commission, the EU body that polices tax abuses.

Jean-Claude Juncker, 59, who took over as president of the EU executive after more than two decades as finance minister and prime minister of the tiny Grand Duchy, pulled out of a speaking engagement on Thursday. He repeated through a spokesman a remark made the previous day denying a conflict of interest and saying he would not hinder existing EU investigations of Luxembourg.

From The Bureau of Investigative Journalism:

Corporate Watch

Juncker cools on making register revealing firms’ true owners open to public

December 12, 2014 by Nick Mathiason

Jean-Claude Juncker appears this morning to have distanced himself from making registers setting out the true owners of companies and other legal entities accessible to journalists and NGOs in a letter sent to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at City University in London .

The EU Commission president’s stance will spark deep unease from anti-corruption campaigners.

Juncker was responding to an appeal earlier this week by 45 investigative journalists from 23 countries urging the EU Commission president to force through the introduction of  this key transparency policy that will reveal the true identity of the owners of companies and trusts across all 28 member states.

In the letter to the Bureau, the EU Commission president wrote: “In the ongoing talks on the Commission proposals our negotiators support provisions of enhanced transparency and call for systems of access to beneficial ownership information including clarification on the possibility of access by third parties who demonstrate a justified legitimate interest.”

The statement will be seen as falling short on an outright endorsement that registers will be open to all.

The beneficial ownership policy forms part of a new Anti-Money Laundering Directive which is in the final stages of negotiations between the Commission, the Council of Ministers and MEPs. The Bureau understands drafts of compromise positions are already circulating.

Final agreement is expected on Tuesday. The beneficial ownership section of the directive was overwhelmingly passed by MEPs in March.

Earlier this week, senior investigative journalists from around the world called on Juncker, who is currently under intense pressure for his involvement in the “Lux Leaks” scandal, “to ensure the EU champions the president of the Commission to “take this critical step in the fight against corruption, which undermines the rights of people in Europe and around the world and threatens the credibility and integrity of the European market.”

But with signals suggesting the the Council of Ministers are blocking the possibility that the public can access beneficial ownership registers, Tamira Gunzburg, Brussels director of the ONE Campaign said: “It is unbelievable that amidst the outbreaks of scandals resulting from financial secrecy, the Council is trying to dilute the parliament’s call for public disclosure of who is hiding behind anonymous companies and trusts. We cannot let this historic opportunity slip by settling for anything less than full public access for anyone without exception.”

It is understood that under the measure, member states will ensure that corporate and other legal entities, that include trusts, will be required to obtain and hold “adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial ownership”.

David Cameron has already committed to making this information publicly accessible. Denmark and the Ukraine have also committed to introduce public registers. But anti-corruption experts say for registers to be successful in combatting financial crime, as many countries as possible need to embrace the measure.

Letter From President Juncker to Mr Nick Mathiason

Fifteen years ago President Clinton deregulated the financial sector. Eight years later, the banking sector collapsed, sending the world into recession. Today, Juncker wants to get “growth and jobs” by deregulating the environment. No lessons learned? Here.

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