Joint debate on Money laundering during the EP plenary session in Strasbourg. Statement by Kri&scaron;jānis KARIŅ&Scaron; (EPP, LV), Rapporteur,&nbsp; Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL), Rapporteur, Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), Rapporteur, Peter SIMON (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, and Vĕra JOUROV&Aacute;, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality,

Strasbourg

plenary session

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

fight against organised crime, corruption and money laundering (T)

SIMON, Peter (S&D, DE)

KARIŅŠ, Krišjānis (EPP, LV)

SARGENTINI, Judith (Greens/EFA, NL)

joint debate

KIRKHOPE, Timothy (ECR, UK)

Money laundering: extracts from the joint debate

SOUNDBITE (Latvian), Kri&#353;j&#257;nis KARI&#325;&#352; (EPP, LV), Rapporteur, "Until now  we had had company registers, commercial registers in Member states but we know that owners could be private persons and legal persons which are owned by other legal persons and so on which create off shore chains within the EU and finally nobody is aware of who stands behind particular company and our proposal which is found in the new legislation that there will be requirement in all member states to have registers of beneficial ownership and what does it mean? It means that in this off shore chain which now makes work of law enforcement bodies so difficult, we will be able to reveal who stands behind a particular company and particular money transfer and that will help also in the tax collection."

SOUNDBITE (English), Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL), Rapporteur, "We agreed to have 28 registers.There are countries that do not have an ultimate beneficiary register at the moment and they are now obliged to get one. And in the future these 28 registers will be interconnected allowing you to search from shell company to shell company, from country to country. Who can look into these registers? Well of course the authorities, they have full access, the obliged entities, banks, casinos , etc, but also everybody who has a legitimate interest, everybody that can show they have an interest to look into that, because of money laundering, terrorism, issues like corruption, tax crime and fraud."

SOUNDBITE (English), Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK), Rapporteur, "The ability to follow money across borders and seize back assets is important ans so is the space in which criminals are able to operate. I believe that this package will help both to diminish that space for criminals but also assist us in our ability to follow  the money across these borders."

SOUNDBITE (German), Peter SIMON (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, "Estimates say that every year moneys worth 1600 billion Euros are subject to money laundering so that is about 3% of annual economic turnover. in the EU alone because of tax evasion one billion gets lost along the way. This is summated as higher than the EU funding framework over seven years so we as the EU as the EP we really have to ensure that we are fighting money laundering and at the same time take a pioneering role against tax evasion because that is interlinked."

SOUNDBITE (English), Peter SIMON (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, "We as Social Democrats would have wanted to have an EU  interconnectivity of these registers and not over the long term but immediately because transparency and the flow of information should not be stopped at the borders and they need to happen immediately."

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, "Tomorrow's vote marks another step closer to stronger rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe and the adoption of a European security agenda it is crucial that these rules become operational as soon as possible. We now have the tools at hand to better detect and trace billions of Euros which come criminal proceeds or financial flows which support terrorist groups and activities. Enhancing beneficial ownership transparency has also been at the heart of the international agenda and I particularly welcome the ambitious approach by both the EP and member states to introduce registers of beneficial ownership for companies and legal arrangements."