That kind of transparency is only an idea in Canada, where corporate owners can mask their identity behind lawyers and “ figurehead ” directors. Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands — notorious offshore tax havens where shell companies shield billions of dollars in illicit money — will soon have more open corporate records than Canada. “The U.K. is becoming the global leader for beneficial ownership transparency and holding tax havens to account,” said Richard Leblanc, a professor of corporate governance at York and Harvard universities. Canadians have stashed at least $90.5 billion in these three U.K. tax havens alone, according to Statistics Canada. “We know from the Panama Papers that Canada is actively marketed as a tax evasion jurisdiction,” said James Cohen, a spokesperson for Transparency International Canada.

Source: thestar May 07, 2018 01:18 UTC