“Beneficial Owners” Policy: Comparison of Its Efficacy in the West with Prospects for Curbing Corruption in China

Abstract

Abstract Registers that collect data on beneficial owners, individuals who, either directly or indirectly, has the power to control companies or enjoy the benefits of ownership, are being implemented in many countries as part of the AML measures. Governments here want to know benefits from a company, to prevent money laundering or financing of terrorists. However, what is not common is the use of such a register to fight corruption. Slovakia has created a special model of the beneficial ownership registry, aimed at financial relations of the state with the private sector, so the information on who benefits from state funds is publicly available. In this context, we were interested in China and the regulation beneficial owners in this country, because, similar to Slovakia, the phenomenon of corruption is here a widespread problem, especially in the field of public procurement. Moreover, an anti-corruption campaign, aimed to clean the relations between the public and private sector, is still ongoing in China. The focus of this article is, therefore, a broad question about institutionalizing control of corruption: Could registration of beneficial owners be legally and technically transferred to the People’s Republic of China to help institutionalize the country’s anti-corruption campaign?