The Parliament of Moldova adopted in the final reading the so-called law on the abolition of "offshore secrecy".
It obliges to disclose information about the actual beneficiaries of companies in our country. In particular, the deputies approved in the second reading the relevant amendments to the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. The document provides for the abolition of "offshore secrets" and obliges the Agency of Public Services to provide public visualization of information from the State Register about effective beneficiaries on existing resources and platforms for publishing open data about companies. It is intended, in particular, to publish the last name, first name, personal identification number (IDNP), place of residence, telephone number and other relevant data of the actual beneficiaries who ultimately own or control the natural or legal person, or the beneficiary of the investment company or the manager of the investment company, or a person on whose behalf an activity is carried out or a transaction is made, and / or directly or indirectly owning or controlling at least 25% of the shares or voting rights of a legal entity or property in fiduciary management. According to the authors of the draft law, information about the founders, administrators and ultimate beneficiaries of companies registered in Moldova is of public interest, and the initiative they have proposed will ensure the right of citizens to information of public interest. The authority responsible for ensuring the publicity of information on the actual beneficiaries of companies registered in Moldova will be the Public Services Agency. One of the authors of the above-mentioned legislative initiative, Chairman of the Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance, Dumitru Alaiba, noted the importance of disclosing data on anonymous beneficiaries of offshore companies. “Those who, under the pretext of offshore secrecy, hide tax evasion, corruption, organized crime, money laundering, raider attacks, should be known. Information about the founders, administrators, beneficiaries of companies registered in Moldova is information of public interest, and any restriction is a violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, ”said Dumitru Alaiba. According to the data presented by him, in 2017-2021 Moldova received MDL 12,640,917,039.56 from high-risk jurisdictions, and MDL 198,569,492.43 were transferred to high-risk jurisdictions. Currently, more than 500 companies are registered in Moldova, falling under the aforementioned law, which will enter into force after 1 month from the date of publication in Monitorul oficial.// 28.10.2021 — InfoMarket
