Mr. Alexander Ermolenko, Head of FBK Legal Corporate Practice about offshore zones

A column by Mr. Alexander Ermolenko, Head of FBK Legal Corporate Practice, is regularly published in Russian Business Newspaper. The column is related to the amendments to the Civil Code that obliges the offshore companies to reveal the ultimate beneficiaries. “Actually the time has come to think about the offshore zones that are used by three-quarters of Russian major and middle-size companies. But the more you get into the matter, the more doubts arise” – the expert writes. According to him, first of all, this control is not obviously required. The value of offshore zones for a businessman is not only in tax saving, but also, as the classical character said, in “the full privacy of deposits”. Businessmen use them not because of their greed. “The origin of the offshore superstructures is imperfection of economy, unsuitable investment climate”, Mr. Ermolenko says.