“The EITI Committee intends to publish for the first time in the 2021 EITI Report, the beneficial owners of all extractive companies”, it is with these words that the Minister of Mining, Professor Fuh Calistus GENTRY opened the workshop chaired by him at the Mont Fébé hotel in Yaoundé, on August 10, 2023. The Acting Minister of Mining took the opportunity to raise awareness among participants of their obligation under the 2023 Finance Law, to declare the beneficial owners. He recalled that any contravener of this obligation would be exposed to the rigor of the provisions of the General Tax Code in its article L8 quinquies.
Provided by requirement 2.5 of the EITI Standard, the purpose of the beneficial ownership statement is to disclose the individuals who ultimately control the companies applying for or holding title to operate in the extractive sector under the EITI Standard. law or convention.
With regard to the said theme, Cameroon, whose new validation at the EITI will begin on October 1, 2023, is making progress relating to the obligation to disclose beneficial ownership. It is more than in the past for the country to create a reliable and transparent business environment in order to strengthen the fight against illicit financial flows (corruption, money laundering, etc.).
This workshop was attended by members of the Interministerial Committee in charge of the evaluation of Cameroon by the peers of the global forum placed with the General Directorate of Taxation, focal points of the administrations supplying EITI data, companies selected in the unilateral declaration of the Directorate General of Taxation as well as all the permanent staff including the Permanent Secretary.
The meeting began with a protocol phase punctuated by speeches and family pictures. Then, took place the training phase through a videoconference led by Mr. Radouane BOUZAIANE of the ENERTEAM firm, recruited by the State as Independent Administrator to draft the 17th EITI Report. The publication of that report is scheduled for mid – September 2023. In his presentation, the Independent Administrator highlight the definition of the beneficial owner, the 5% reporting threshold adopted by the EITI Committee, the forms of direct and indirect control of capital, the methods of identifying the beneficial owner, typology of companies reporting beneficial ownership, politically exposed persons disclosure criteria, reporting instructions and timeline. At the end of his presentation, he recalled deadlines for submitting:
The completed declaration forms to be sent in electronic format to the addresses below itiecameroun@gmail.com with a copy to secretariatitiecmr@gmail.com no later than August 18, 2023;
The duly signed and then certified versions of the said forms must be sent no later than August 21, 2023 in hard copy. These should be sent to the Permanent Secretariat of the EITI Committee, BP 11 063 Yaoundé, ninth floor of the SNI building.
Before closing the workshop, the Independent Conciliator responded to the main concerns of the participants, which essentially related to the clarifications concerning: the assurance and reliability of the information disclosed in the declaration of beneficial owners of companies, the type of the companies concerned by the said declaration, the identification of the beneficial owner, the methods of disclosure of the beneficial owners, the capital structure of the companies in the mining, oil and gas sectors, the incidence of double voting right, etc.
To download the beneficial owners declaration form, please click on the link below: https://eiticameroon.org/post/3691
