Coporate transparency high on G20 agenda

Australia will have a tough job convincing world leaders at the G20 Summit to commit to corporate transparency principles, anti-corruption advocates say.

This comes as China on Thursday denied accusations it is blocking an agreement on corporate transparency which involves a public register that lists the real owners of companies to root out tax cheats, fraudsters and crooked politicians.

According to the Berlin-based anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI), China has rejected draft principles on beneficial ownership that Australia had hoped to unveil at this weekend's summit.

"As of last week, China has been the one country which has shown reservations about the principles. They had last-minute concerns," TI's senior program co-ordinator Maggie Murphy told AAP.

"If that is the case, it will be a real blow for Australia which has made it their champion anti-corruption cause."

A Chinese official told AFP on Thursday that Beijing was not impeding progress on the talks.

"G20 is not the (United Nations) Security Council. China does not have veto power. No countries have any veto power and all discussions are based on consensus," Zhang Jun, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of International Economic Affairs, said.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron vowed in October that he'd introduce legislation requiring all companies based in Britain to disclose their ultimate owners on a public registry.

Ms Murphy said Denmark was looking at similar laws, and while Australia does not have such laws, Attorney-General George Brandis had made the issue a priority for the G20 summit's anti-corruption working group.

However, she admitted that it would be tough for Australia to get the G20 leaders to commit to the beneficial ownership principles designed to stop people from hiding their financial affairs through shell companies.

"To get that to be adopted at the G20 level when you have people in the room from Saudi Arabia, Russia China, Indian, Germany, such a diverse group of nations, would be such a huge achievement for Australia," she said.

"Shell companies are the getaway cars for corrupt people and for people who want to evade their taxes."

Ms Murphy said about a trillion dollars a year was leaving developing countries through secret companies and other dubious financial practices.

A decision on what anti-corruption principles the leaders will adopt is due on Sunday during the summit held at Brisbane.