The BBC report that:
When this happens I wonder what we will discover about Windrush Ventures Ltd.?'A list of "shell" companies where firms keep money offshore will be published to discourage tax evasion, David Cameron will announce later.
Ministers had already announced the register, intended to lift the "cloak of secrecy" around company ownership.
But the prime minister will say making the register public will make it easier for firms and developing countries to know who they are doing business with.
Labour, anti-corruption campaigners and charities welcomed the move.
Speaking at the Open Government Partnership summit in London later, Mr Cameron will say a small minority of companies have hidden their business dealings in a "complex web of shell companies" for too long.'
I suspect this is mostly window dressing. If UK tax payers (including companies) own offshore companies that cannot be shown to be outside the scope of UK tax under a number of specific tests, then they have to file a yax return on behalf of that company. If the UK government knows who these companies are, then either their tax affairs are legitimate or HMRC can and should litigate/prosecute. The fact that HMRC does not suggests that this is just bluster.
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