New report roots for law revealing company owners

Mr Benson Turamye, the chief executive officer at PPDA. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY 

What you need to know:

  • The report recommends that adopting a centralised register for all companies will be the most effective was of ensuring transparency and accountability.

A new report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) has asked government to urgently enact beneficial ownership law to curb increasing cases of illicit financial flows.

The report titled “Corporate Transparency: A guide for beneficial ownership laws in Uganda” says government officials used shell companies and offshore trusts to stash and hide their wealth. 

The report indicates that Uganda loses up to Shs2 trillion ($550 million) annually through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).  This, the report says is orchestrated by shady companies whose ownerships have remained anonymous.

“This demonstrates how the failure to collect beneficial ownership information is frequently exploited by individuals looking for a convenient way to move illicit proceeds and conceal their criminal activity,” the report indicates. 

Policy Analyst Kaisa de Bel, who works at GFI, says the ability to use anonymous companies enables criminals to conduct illegal activities such as tax evasion, corruption, money laundering, and financing terrorism.

“To increase transparency in business transactions and curtail IFFs, the Ugandan government should require companies to disclose beneficial ownership information, that is, reveal the identity of individuals who ultimately enjoy the benefits of an entity”. 

The report says while Uganda’s procurement body, The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), in December 2021 directed contractors bidding for government tenders to reveal the real owners, this is not sufficient to curb corruption. 

The report recommends that adopting a centralised register for all companies will be the most effective was of ensuring transparency and accountability.

Mr Benson Turamye, the chief executive officer at PPDA, said a centralised register will help the government understand and know the persons it is dealing with.  “A centralised beneficial ownership makes it easier for authorities to investigate and prevent the use of anonymous companies to hide proceeds of crime,” he said. 

Mr Onesmus Mugyenyi, the deputy director of ACODE, said beneficial ownership legislation must cover all legal entities, including limited liability companies (LLCs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), trusts and multinational companies operating in the country. 

“Beneficial ownership information will be instrumental in Uganda’s extractives sector where the mining sector has been subject to corporate secrecy...’’  he said. 

The report says further says government must collect data from the national identification system.  It provides specific recommendations for stringent and comprehensive beneficial ownership legislation . 

“The most effective method for Uganda to achieve beneficial ownership transparency is by amending the Companies Act to require all companies registered in the country to record their BO information in one single, nationwide registry that is administered by the URSB,” the report says.