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Companies Bill [Lords]

I am glad to see that the Liberal faith in human virtue and the virtue of companies lives on. Lots of organisations have something to hide, and lots choose to hide it. I do not want to provide any more opportunities for them to do so. New clauses 16 and 17 provide massive, unnecessary machinery to deal badly with something that, I am afraid, must just be accepted and can be dealt with in other fashions, and for which we should not breach the principle of full openness or full sunshine. My amendment No. 758 sustains the fundamental principles on which the new corporate identity was given to joint stock companies. If somebody is to be responsible, the legal personality created for the convenience of business must be rooted in identifiable shareholders whose names are known and whose interests can be investigated. Amendment No. 683 is an effort to control the big trade in companies bought off the shelf. The technique is widely used by money launderers. Money laundering would be extremely difficult were it not for accountancy firms having the ability to set up shell companies in that way. I wrote an article about a money laundering racket by AGIP some years ago, in which Grant Thornton established shell companies in Jersey to launder money from that interest. It goes on all the time. Enron used it spectacularly on an enormous scale. If we are to deal with that issue, we need to know who the beneficial owners are, who is setting up the company and who is answerable. Currently, there is no requirement for third party agents such as accountancy firms who submit company formation papers to Companies House to collect and verify the ownership information for the company. Therefore, owners can conceal their identities and carry on their nefarious business. The principle of full openness, for which I am speaking, should therefore be extended to cover such shell companies. We should maintain that principle, not infringe it.