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Pledge for public registry at anti-corruption summit

Publish Date
Fri, 13 May 2016, 1:26PM

Pledge for public registry at anti-corruption summit

Publish Date
Fri, 13 May 2016, 1:26PM

Countries attending an anti-corruption summit in London have pledged to set up public registers of company ownership, in a collective effort to make it harder to launder the proceeds of corruption around the globe.

Britain, France, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Afghanistan have pledged to launch the registers, while this country, Australia, Jordan, Indonesia, Ireland and Georgia announced initial steps towards similar arrangements.

Justice Minister Judith Collins is New Zealand's representative there.

LISTEN TO JUDITH COLLINS' FULL INTERVIEW WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE 

US Secretary of State John Kerry has addressed the summit, describing his shock at the corruption "pandemic" around the world.

He said extremism in the world today comes to no small degree from the utter exasperation people have with the sense that the system is rigged.

Mr Kerry said that anger manifests itself in different forms in elections around the world, including his own, referring to the unexpected success of Republican Donald Trump.

Prime Minister John Key acknowledges there is room for international co-operation.

"We do need to work with other countries. So if the world adopts a register, New Zealand will certainly be fulfilling its obligations and happy doing so."

He said the initiative was one his Government officials had been starting to think about ahead of an OECD meeting in Paris.

Mr Key said there are learnings, and better things that can be done, as a result of disclosures around the Panama Papers.

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