From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has stated that with the introduction of Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), corrupt practices both in public and private sectors would be checkmated and eradicated.
It has also said that the Persons with Significant Control (PSC) registration platform would further help the Federal Government in monitoring money laundering and sponsorship of terrorism by organisations in the country.
Registrar-General of CAC, Garba Abubakar, disclosed this at a one day training on the use of Beneficial Ownership Register organised in collaboration with USAID, Palladium and the World Bank, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Tuesday.
Abubakar said that the BOR would help in the war against terrorism and proliferation of arms in the country, adding that the verification platform has been designed to instill transparency in the dealings of public and private organisations.
Speaking through the Director of Compliance, CAC, Mr. Justin Biraol, the Registrar-General noted that the desired push for BOR was given by former President Muhammadu Buhari at the London Anti-Corruption Conference/Summit of May, 2015.
At the summit, he stated that the immediate past president made a commitment that the country would implement the requirements of Beneficial Ownership as part of the overall National Anti-Corruption strategy.
According to Abubakar, Buhari’s political commitment was followed up by concrete actions which eventually resulted in the repeal and re-enactment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020.
He said that the move was immediately followed by the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act and Proceeds of Crime Act all of 2022, adding that all these were geared toward ensuring sanity among organisations.
The Registrar-General further said that the BOR would serve as a verification platform for owners and significant members of a business organization, adding that the document would be used to monitor the activities of such firms.
He said: “The commission with the assistance of the World Bank and other stakeholders such as Oasis developed and deployed the National Register of Beneficial Ownership on 26/5/2023 and has sequel to this deployment, undertaken series of training on the use of the Register.
“Prior to this period, the Commission had collected Beneficial Ownership information for all companies registered from 1/1/2021 through the
CRP (Companies Registration Portal) in addition to collections from Annual Returns and Post incorporation filings for legacy companies.
“The commission has also issued Beneficial Ownership or Persons with Significant Control Regulations 2022 to provide clarity in the implementation of the framework. Other sectors specific
Regulators have also issued Guidelines or Regulations on the same important issue.”
Abubakar stated that the effective implemention of the BOR would help the nation come out of the list of world’s Financial Task Force.
He added that the Organized Private Sector is expected to use the Register for Customer Due Diligence (RCDD) and to check conflict of interests and transparency in governance.
He said: “Effective implementation of the Beneficial Ownership framework is essential for the fight against corruption, money laundering, terrorism, terrorism financing, proliferation and proliferation financing.
“It is also critical in the determination of whether or not the country gets off the Grey list of the Financial Action Task Force.
“It is also important to note that there are other key stakeholders that drive the implementation of the Beneficial Ownership framework. Any discuss will be incomplete without mentioning them.
“The Organized Private Sector is expected to use the Register for Customer Due Diligence and to check conflict of interest, the media for investigative journalism and the NGOs to promote accountability and transparency in governance particularly in procurement.
“The National Beneficial Ownership Register is one of the best globally not only because of the involvement of World Bank in its development, but it is the only Register that provides for instantaneous online verification of the identity of the Beneficial Owner through integration with the National ldentity Management Commission’s database.”
According to Precilia Orukpe, representative of Oasis Management Company, the firm that developed the platform, the platform is user friendly with unique features.