Kofi Annan urges G8 to make company ownership, revenue flows completely transparent

Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and chair of the Africa Progress Panel has called on  G8 leaders to make company ownership as well as revenue flows completely transparent to shine a light on the widespread method for hiding corruption.

He said, in a statement that, the G8 should establish registries on ownership of companies and trusts in all tax jurisdictions and make them publicly available, adding that tax avoidance and evasion are global issues “that affect us all.”

He explained that, “throughout the world, millions of citizens now need the G8 leaders to take action on tax avoidance, not just because of the palpable injustice of enormous tax avoidance by major multinationals but also to do so could save many, many lives around the world.”

According to him, a G8 deal on the automatic exchange of tax information must include African authorities, giving them full access to relevant tax information.

“Theses demands may seem ambitious but a shared agenda is emerging and this is critical. Given this enormous momentum towards a fairer world, where unethical tax avoidance and corrupt deals become harder to hide, the leaders of G8 can be on the right side of history, swimming ahead of the tide  to make the world a safer, fairer place,” he added.

By Dorcas Appiah