Consistent with international standards and requirements, Liberia has joined other countries around the world in a key step towards enhancing corporate transparency and accountability. Key stakeholders from the private sector have joined forces to thoroughly review and finalize the Beneficial Ownerships Transparency (BOT) Guidance Resources and other resourceful BOT documents. This initiative is intended to help Liberia continuously uphold openness and transparency, allowing people from diverse backgrounds to conduct business transactions securely.
The review exercise, themed “Review of BOT Guidance Resources with LBR and Businesses,” featured a presentation by Madam Favor Ime, Open Ownership’s Senior Regional Manager for Africa, who delivered the BOT guidance resource and regulation via Zoom. Representatives from participating private sector institutions included Mr. Samuel Na-Kronde Jlaka of the Liberia Business Association (LIBA), Cllr. Micheal Suah of Jones & Jones Law Firm, Mr. C. Pottter of Heritage Partners & Associates, Madam Christiana W. Acolatse of Crowe Liberia, Madam Esther M. Subre of Pierre, Tweh & Associates, Inc., alongside Mr. Morris A. D. Sambola, Manager, Beneficial Ownership Declaration Office and the entire “BO” unit of the Liberia Business Registry (LBR).
The implementation of the Liberia Beneficial Ownership Transparency (BOT) represents a significant Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measure aimed at peeling back the layers of corporate secrecy. Designed by the National Steering Committee on “BO”, private sector stakeholders and its partners, the “BO” regulation mandates all registered legal entities, including corporations, Limited Liability Company (LLC), partnerships, trust and foundation to identify and report their beneficial owners. As provided in Liberia’s “BO” regulations, with a threshold of five percentage (5%), a beneficial owner is defined as the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity, typically through shares ownership or voting rights, or who exercises sufficient control via other means.
Speaking during and after the review of the feedback exercise, Hon. Patience B. Randall, Director General of the LBR, elaborated that the key requirement is for entities to obtain and hold accurate and up-to-date information on their beneficial owners, creating a reliable and accessible record for competent authorities in Liberia and abroad. She commended Open Ownership and other relevant partners for their technical support in enabling Liberia to conclude this finalization stage. The BOT online portal is expected to be rolled out early next year, and these guidance resources will be available on the websites of the Liberia Business Registry (LBR), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) for openness and information purposes.
According to Director General Randall, the primary mechanism for this BOT initiative is for transparency and accountability. She clarified that the registry will be publicly accessible, where citizens can have access to information related to companies’ ownerships and control. This central register data will also be accessible and available to designated law enforcement and competent authorities, both within Liberia and internationally, for conducting financial investigations, combating corruption, and enforcing tax laws. Director Randall elaborated that the finalize Guidance Resources documents will improve and ease the disclosure of the real individuals behind corporate structures directly or indirectly and tackle the misuse of legal entities for illicit activities such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion. This initiative aligns Liberia’s obligation with global standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and enhances the country’s integrity as a responsible participant in the international financial system.
Meanwhile, the Financial Intelligence Agency of Liberia (FIA) plays a critical enforcement role as a primary user of the Beneficial Ownership Registry. While the Liberia Business Registry (LBR) administers the data, the FIA leverages it as a designated competent authority to conduct financial investigations, cross-reference beneficial ownership information with suspicious transaction reports, and analyze the data to uncover illicit networks and activities. This access enables the FIA to generate actionable intelligence to support law enforcement agencies in combating the very crimes the BOT Regulation targets, money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion, by identifying the real individuals behind corporate structures used for illicit purposes.