Australia to create public register of shell company owners, in wake of Panama Papers

Australia will follow the United Kingdom and become the second major economy to create a public register revealing the identities of the beneficial owners of shell companies in an effort to stamp out tax avoidance by multinational companies, in response to the Panama Papers leaks.

The Canberra government has signalled it will make a public commitment to a register of beneficial ownership within weeks, ahead of an anti-corruption conference in London in mid-May convened by David Cameron.

Australia’s assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer signalled the Turnbull government’s plans in an interview with Guardian Australia. “We agree there needs to be a registry of beneficial ownership in our country,” O’Dwyer said.

“It does improve transparency. It means that the public and law enforcement agencies know who ultimately controls the company. It means it is a lot easier to expose wrongdoing or fraudulent conduct. It make it much easier to disrupt illicit financial flows and it makes it much, much harder to engage in tax avoidance.”

The government’s move comes in the wake of revelations in the Panama Papers that more than 800 Australians were on the files of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca – and amid a strong domestic voter backlash about businesses not contributing their fair share of tax.

Both Turnbull and Cameron have faced questions about their personal wealth and offshore investments.