Russia readies bill barring offshore firms from state procurement

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian Finance Ministry has prepared a bill forbidding companies, whose owners or beneficiaries are registered in the offshore jurisdictions, from participation in state purchases, because it creates the risks of criminal income legalization and impossibility to track the tax payments, according to the documents seen by PRIME on Friday.

"The bill introduces additional mechanisms of deoffshorization to avoid the risks, setting as one of the requirements for the participants of procurement the lack of offshore companies on the list of shareholders of a company or founders of a unitary company, and the lack of beneficiaries that are an offshore company," the document read.

The potential state procurements participants must submit declarations of compliance with the requirement.

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