Call for easier access to company data to slow flow of ‘dirty money’ through Ireland

Company information should be made easier to access immediately to help fight the flow of "dirty money" through Ireland, Transparency International Ireland (TII) has said.

The Government should remove all fees charged for accessing corporate information and publish open data sets on companies to show it is serious about stopping the flow of illicit funds through Irish-administered companies, trusts and the financial services sector, it said.

The group called for increased levels of public disclosure on the ultimate beneficial ownership registers maintained by the Central Bank and Revenue Commissioners.

TII chief executive John Devitt said making more information publicly available would help in the fight against kleptocracy and be a meaningful way to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine. He said Ireland has a huge financial services sector which is not adequately policed or monitored.

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Ill-equipped

“Our corporate enforcement agencies, the Central Bank and An Garda Síochána, are grossly ill-equipped to deal with the risk of money laundering on the scale that is being reported,” he said.

“Even the best resourced agencies are unable to tackle this problem on their own. International cooperation amongst law enforcement agencies, investigative journalists, and civil society organisations, is therefore essential.”

Mr Devitt said these networks would benefit greatly from the publication of free and open data sets on company, trust, property and certain financial vehicle ownership. TII also called for the immediate suspension of the Immigrant Investor, (Golden Visa) Programme, and a prohibition on the continued sale of dormant shelf companies.

Last year The Irish Times, working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as part of the Pandora Papers project, disclosed that Ireland was being marketed as an offshore jurisdiction in Russia and other former Soviet republics.

Nominee owners

Irish legal entities called limited partnerships were being used to hold assets and open bank accounts outside Ireland while using nominee owners from company services operations based in traditional offshore locations, the reports disclosed.

Figures released last week by the Department of Enterprise to The Irish Times show that of the 2,530 limited partnerships currently registered, 848 have their registered address at Clifton House, Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2, while a further 110 are registered to 14 Washington Street West in Cork.

The Dublin address is being used as a mailing address by a London-based company formations business that in turn provides services to company administration businesses in the Seychelles.

The Cork address is a Mailbox Etc outlet, the operator of which has said the address is being used by persons unknown without his permission.

The department said it is working on new legislation on Irish limited partnerships and would seek to ensure they are not being used by people to conceal their assets.