Cracking Shell Company Secrecy
The ”Panama Papers,” millions of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm revealed how some of the world’s most powerful people set up anonymous “shell companies” to hide their wealth. Such entities can legitimately provide privacy but also enable tax evasion, money laundering and corruption. What can the government do to crack down on the misuse of shell companies?
* shell company = 자산이나 사업 활동이 없는 명의뿐인 회사/ secrecy = 비밀 유지[엄수]; 비밀(인 상태)/ leak = (비밀을) 누설[유출]하다/ set up = 설립[건립]하다/ anonymous = 익명인/ entity = 독립체/ legitimately = 합법적으로, 정당하게/ enable = ~을 할 수 있게 하다/ tax evasion = 탈세/ money laundering = 돈[자금] 세탁/ crack down on ~ = ~에 단호한 조치를 취하다; ~을 엄히 단속하다, 탄압하다/ misuse = 남용, 오용, 악용
명의뿐인 회사의 남용을 단속하기 위해 정부는 무엇을 할 수 있나요?
1. Sanctions for Offshore Havens, Transparency at Home
Stop enabling havens that facilitate crime, and create comprehensive registries of the real owners of U.S. property and security to undermine corruption.
2. Shell Companies’ Secrecy Provides Personal Security
In less stable countries, financial privacy is a crucial strategy to reduce the risk of kidnapping and extortion for wealthy families.
3. Don’t Look Any Farther Than Home
The United States is one of the easiest places to set up an untraceable company, and a favorite location for corrupt politicians to hide cash.
4. More Honesty and Less Hypocrisy
The U.S. should quit complaining about offshore secrecy until it provides the same transparency that it has enforced for others.
5. Forming a Company Can Be Easier Than Getting a Library Card
As a result, corrupt leaders can drain money from poorer countries that could be used for development at home.
Sample Essay
For Suspicious Shell Companies, Look No Farther Than Home
The Panama Papers have revealed in vivid color how tax havens and secret companies lie behind almost every crime imaginable. Money-laundering, tax evasion, corruption and terrorism are all enabled by the offshore industry and its web of anonymously owned companies.
But this isn’t just about sunny tax havens -- much of this crime happens on our own shores. In fact, the United States is one of the easiest places to set up an untraceable company without breaking the law, and a favorite destination for corrupt politicians to squirrel away their cash. Anonymously owned American companies threaten our economy, national security and tax dollars. For example, until 2013 the Iranian government used an anonymous New York company to conceal its ownership of a Fifth Avenue skyscraper, in breach of sanctions.
Global Witness’s recent undercover operation showed how easy it is to enable corruption in America. When we asked 13 New York law firms how to move suspect funds into the United States, all but one gave us suggestions on how to do it: by setting up secretly owned companies, with 11 of them suggesting we create such companies in friendly American jurisdictions, with Delaware and New York as popular choices.
We are starting to see progress, but there’s a long way to go. The bipartisan Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act, now before Congress, would require almost all American companies to disclose the people who actually own or control them, and to keep that information updated.
Foreign banks are reporting to the Internal Revenue Service about their American-owned accounts under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. U.S. banks should also be looking into who their clients are, but without information about American company owners their jobs are much harder, leaving an open lane for tax evasion.
Meanwhile, lawyers, accountants and professionals who set up companies and manage money for their clients should be required to do anti-money laundering checks in line with international norms.
As things stand, we are making life easier for people who want to make our country and others around the world poorer and more dangerous. Let’s get our own house in order and pave the way forward.
