Andrew Mitchell writes for The Times.
“Please make sure you do what needs to be done, and what is stipulated by the greatness of your country.” That’s what President Zelensky told British parliamentarians in his video-link speech yesterday.
The Economic Crime Bill, that parliament debated on Monday, is a good start in exposing the foreign companies that own and control property in Britain.
But these limited reforms, written many years ago, are just the start of what is needed to expose the people behind the foreign companies owning property in the UK. It is just a downpayment on exposing dirty money in Britain.
That is why it is good news that the government has already committed to a second Economic Crime Bill, early in the next session.
Following the transparency push in the first bill, we now need real teeth for serious enforcement. Companies House requires a major overhaul. It needs long overdue powers to verify and correct information.
The government also needs to include reform of limited liability partnerships and a move to allow businesses to share information on suspected money laundering.
I am also proposing that the government appoint an economic crime commissioner, to provide a focal point for accountability and implementation of these two bills.
It’s also now time for the legal, banking, public relations and accounting professions to come to the table. Some are referring to these as the “enabling” professional services that have greased the wheels of dirty money for too long.
The US is considering an Enablers Act to increase regulations and due diligence. I would also like to see a specialist unit set up to tackle money laundering and sanctions evasion by professional enablers.
The abuse of our legal system, to silence journalists reporting on corruption and money laundering, must come to an end. Our courts have been too willing to take the word of kleptocrats and autocrats over the brave investigative reporters who expose them.
Proper budgets and an increase in staffing for woefully under resourced investigators must also be a priority in the coming months.
The government spends the equivalent of just 0.042 per cent of GDP to tackle economic crime that costs the UK at least the equivalent of 14.5 per cent of GDP. The National Crime Agency budget has declined in real terms by 4.5 per cent over the past five years.
While investigators in the US, and even Italy, have big budgets and competitive salaries, our own agency struggles to find the talent it needs. This should be addressed in Rishi Sunak’s spring budget, the week after next.
Another important piece of the puzzle is our own Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies, on which I have campaigned with Margaret Hodge and others on a cross-party basis for many years.
Of the £1.5 billion worth of property bought by Russians accused of corruption or links to the Kremlin, over £800 million worth — more than half, by value — is held by companies in Britain’s tax havens.
All of the overseas territories are due to open up their company registers by the end of 2023. But the government should do everything in its power to hasten this process and require them to establish public beneficial ownership registers this year.
Our Russian sanctions enforcers need this information right now, to ensure nothing slips through the net.
There is a unique window of opportunity to clean up corrupt money in Britain, and the public are starting to raise their voice. One grassroots group — Kensington Against Dirty Money — has launched a popular push back against dark money in its London borough, which has the largest number of oligarch owned property in Britain.
Across the country, the public have donated £100 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee last weekend. And they are demanding we shake up our system for assisting refugees.
Our assistance to the people of Ukraine is humanitarian, military and economic. But this crisis has exposed what has been hiding in plain sight. London must no longer be the money laundering capital of the world.