Slovakia adopted the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive definition of beneficial ownership but added an aspect on joint control and coordinated action based on their own practical experiences of wrongdoing. This means that somebody may not meet the definition and threshold of beneficial ownership on their own but may meet it together with one or multiple other people. Joint control and coordinated action are assumed, for instance, if people are family members, or if different shareholders show a similar voting history. The beneficial owner definition was introduced to the AML Act by Slovakia’s Act on Public Sector Partners Register which entered into force in 2017.
In the Public Sector Partners Register, the responsibility for registration is delegated to a locally based ‘authorized person’ such as an attorney, notary, auditor, banker, or tax advisor. Verification documents showing how a beneficial owner was identified are publicly available on the Register and validated by the authorized person. The register has independent oversight and is governed by a Registration Court. Anyone can submit a justified claim querying data to the Registration Court, and if the Court finds it reasonable, there is a proceeding to require the company to verify the data they submitted. It is unique in that it contains this reverse burden-of-proof mechanism.
If queried data remains incorrect or incomplete, the Court can fine the company, remove them from the register and current government contracts can be cancelled. Fines can be up to 100% of the economic benefit of a company’s government contracts, or if that cannot be determined, up to EUR 1 million ($ 1.09 million). Authorized persons and those in management positions can be fined up to EUR 100,000 ($ 109,000). Removal from the register means a company cannot undertake contracts with the government. Disqualification has proved to be an effective sanction and is based on a court
decision that a natural person shall not act as a member of the statutory body or supervisory body in a company or cooperative. This also applies to acting as the head of a branch of an enterprise, head of a foreign person’s enterprise, head of a branch of a foreign person’s enterprise, or as an authorized signatory (procurator).
Source :Register of Public Sector Partners, https://rpvs.gov.sk/rpvs/; https://www.justice.gov.sk/sluzby/register-partnerov-verejneho-sektora/open-data;Questionnaire on State Measures for Strengthening Business Integrity https://businessintegrity.unodc.org/bip/en/questionnaire-on-states-measures-for-business-integrity.html
