In a bid to minimise fraud and other nefarious activities the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) will shortly embark on a massive cleaning of its register to remove dormant companies.

This was revealed on Tuesday by COJ Chief Executive Officer Shellie Leon during a press briefing called by the Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill at which he announced plans to upgrade and eventually relocate the COJ from its cramped headquarters at Grenada Way in New Kingston.

With the COJ indicating that there was an increase in the registration of new companies, Leon was asked whether her office was actively monitoring and removing from its register, companies that have become dormant and are no longer in operation.

In her response, Leon said, “As the COJ strengthens its anti-money laundering framework we monitor both active and inactive companies. As such, in very short order we are going to be doing a massive clean-up of our registers because some dormant companies… we’re finding that even though they don’t make returns, they don’t have an actual office that they operate from; some of them might have property and so we’re cooperating with, for example, the National Land Agency because these dormant companies, they are a gateway for fraud to be committed.”

Leon added that there are people “who find out that the companies are dormant, make certain changes, take people’s property, etc. So we monitor both dormant and active and we’re working with other partners in that effort”.

For his part, Hill stated that what Leon spoke to was “what the banks have always known: frauds in banks almost invariably… happen in dormant accounts”.

The banker-turned-politician said when he ran banks, whether in or outside Jamaica, “We always insist that the auditors must go through the dormant accounts because that’s where frauds tend to originate. So it’s very important that COJ is going down that road as well.”

Meanwhile, Hill said that in order for Jamaica to boost productivity, there has to be a major overhaul of the procurement process which often causes lengthy delays in getting projects approved.

“In my view, this procurement process, when it was written, everybody who wrote it seemed to believe that everybody in Jamaica was a thief. It was made to halt every single thing and check it five times before you could get it done,” he said.

The minister asked, “How [are] you going to build a country like that?” He pointed to the roads which, despite their deplorable state, are subjected to a lengthy procurement process, often heightening frustration levels.

“That has to change. That will be my advocacy and I believe that the Cabinet is going to move in that direction,” Hill said.

He also told the press briefing that the COJ has been looking for another site but, in the meantime, has been working to expand the Grenada Way location to make it more comfortable for walk-in customers. He expects the renovations to be completed by January 2026 but was not clear on when the new permanent site will be up and running.

Hill said the future of the COJ is digitisation, with the expectation that up to 80 per cent of services will be online by December 2025. He shared that by October, there will be auto approvals for annual return forms, change of company secretary and change of registered office, all of which will be done online.

By November, change of documents, change of directors and allotment of new shares will become the new norm online. Additionally, e-certificates for companies will be launched in October.

“These technological improvements will reduce in-branch crowding, shorten turnaround time and make it easier for business to comply efficiently,” he said.

Between April and August this year, the COJ saw 35,244 walk-in customers compared to 36,177 customers for the comparable period in 2024, a near seven per cent decline.

However, the number of transactions that took place between April and August this year rose to 40,758, a 21 per cent increase when compared to the 33,730 in 2024.

“We have less customers and more transactions which means digitisation is happening, more people are going online,” Hill explained.

Responding to a question, the minister said he would like to see more people from the entertainment and creative sectors register companies.

Permanent secretary in the ministry, Sancia Bennett Templer, in urging entertainers to register, said, “Formalisation in general is one of the things that we encourage, for companies to get registered. Clearly, if you have creative content, intellectual property [register] with the Intellectual Property Office as well.”

She added that “there are lots of benefits that come with formalisation of your company, that includes the fact that many of the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that work and provide technical assistance, financial assistance, they require you to be a registered company”.

She noted further that “going to the bank to get a loan, dealing with any lending institution, invariably they’re going to require you to be a registered company”.

Companies Office of Jamaica at Grenada Way in New Kingston.