4-17 Could China and Japan go to war over these?

http://www.economist.com/printedition/2012-09-22

ESG Season4 17th meeting

DATE: 30th Sep. 2012 10:00-12:00
PLACE: Kanda, Tokyo
MEMBERS: Ogawa

Shell companies

Launderers Anonymous

A study highlights how easy it is to set up untraceable companies

From International

Why I choose this article

One of our humans’ great inventions is corporation. It has a corporate body and can act as a man legally. It is more convenient for us to do business by making corporation on a paper than by individual. SHELL company, which is today’s topic, uses this characteristic of corporation to maximize the merit of making a corporation.

What I want to discuss

What are SHELL companies?
Why do people especially money launderers make shell companies?

What kind of laws or systems are needed to prevent them from crimes?

What the article says

The untraceable shell companies happen to be a vehicle of choice for dubious money launderers and terrorist financers but law enforcers confront difficulties of taking off the veils.

International standard set by the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) says countries should take all necessary measures to prevent their misuse, such as ensuring that accurate information on the real (or “beneficial”) owner is available to “competent authorities”.

A study of the level of compliance standard worldwide proved that tax haven countries and poor countries had a better compliance level than OECD countries. Providers were often strikingly insensitive even to clear criminal risks.