Brussels, 03 February 2014 - Ana Gomes, MEP (S&D, Portugal) reacted today to the unveiling of the European Commission's first ever EU-wide Anti-Corruption Report, which identified serious shortcomings in the efforts of EU Member States to combat corruption. "This report shows that corruption is a cross border European scourge" she said, "and we need stronger mechanisms to fight it at the level of the EU, not only monitoring what the Member States are doing or not doing, but demanding concrete action from the authorities. Corruption seriously distorts competition and internal market rules, but it also undermines the trust of EU citizens in politicians at national and European level".

"While I welcome this report from the Commission, I must also stress that the Commission, which is part of the Troika, did nothing to fight corruption and fraud in bailed out countries. It continues to turn a blind eye to many on-going scandals and practices in these Member States, like Portugal, despite specific complaints brought to its attention. The Troikas had a clear opportunity to push for reforms to combat corruption and fraud through budget transparency and much needed regulation of conflicts of interest, for example, but glaringly failed to act. Actually, in Portugal, the Troika blessed opaque privatizations and the safeguarding of profits of corruption through tax amnesties granted by the Portuguese Government in 2012 and 2013, which ensured secrecy and impunity to individuals and companies who stashed money in tax havens", added the Socialist Coordinator for Foreign Affairs.

Ana Gomes has tabled several amendments supporting the creation of public registries of corporate ownership information in the revision of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD). "It is extremely important to easily identify the owners of all companies established in the EU and eliminate anonymous shell companies, which are used by the corrupt and other criminals to move money across borders without a trace and hide the proceeds of criminal activities", she concluded.

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