Good news from Slovakia: light cast onto shell companies

What is truly important are that there are now palpable consequences for shell companies.

Some notorious Slovak tycoons that were previously hidden behind foreign structures (and the public could only guess who owned them) actually admitted in the public register that they are beneficial owners of these companies. One case of particular interest is of company Vahostav that builds most of Slovakia’s highways and public buildings.

Then we waited to see whether the Žilina court would take actual measures against shell companies. A couple of days ago, the court put a reasonably high fine (50,000 euros) on a company InterMedical that had Cypriot citizens registered as its beneficial owners. It is a notorious company which seems to be connected with many murky trade involved in Slovak healthcare. That fine was reduced today to 10,000 euros. Nevertheless, the good news is that the court in Žilina is not afraid to take measures against these companies and has been empowered by this new legislation.

I currently work for an opposition MP and I have no interest in helping the government. I just want to give respect where respect is due. It really does seem that this new anti-shell law is not toothless and I can be proud of my country at least once.”