Rada obligated the companies to disclose their ultimate beneficiaries

The Verkhovna Rada has passed in the second reading the bill which obligates the companies to disclose the information about their beneficial owners.

265 MPs voted for the bill No. 5114 On Introduction of the Amendments to Several Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Determination of the Final Beneficial Owners of Legal Entities and Public Figures.

After the approval of the law Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that «the offshore era in Ukraine is over».

«Now everything will be clear,» he said.

According to the explanatory note to the document, the purpose of the bill is to establish a mechanism of the solution to the problem of the individual — ultimate beneficiary of legal entities and also ensure free access to the State Register of real rights on immovable property.

In particular, the bill proposes to introduce the Article 64-1 to the Economic Code of Ukraine, according to which «the companies except the state-owned and utility enterprises are obligated to determine their ultimate beneficial owners, renew regularly and keep the information about them and provide it to the state register».

In addition, it is expected that the document will introduce the new Article 209-2 to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, according to which the companies will be fined from 1,000 to 2,000 of non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 17,000-34,000 or US $1,310-2.620) or public works for the period of 160-240 hours for failing to disclose information about beneficiaries.

As Capital reported, the parliament passed the bill in the first reading on October 7.