A new bill aimed at exposing the true owners of companies and curbing fraud could close long-standing loopholes that allow businesses to evade taxes and obligations and defraud others, Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls has told Parliament.

The Beneficial Ownership Transparency and Register Bill, introduced in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, would establish a framework to identify the true owners of companies operating in and through Barbados, a move Nicholls said would strengthen transparency and regulatory oversight.

He said: “Not only are we seeking to put a platform to ensure that the people who run businesses in Barbados and run businesses through Barbados are properly identified and ascertained for regulatory and legislative purposes, we are now making sure that we can have a register that ensures we can know who are the owners of the companies, -the real owners, the real movers and shakers.