Dirty Money in the UK (Part 2)

 

The Dreamer in the Kremlin
Eduard Bersudsky/ Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre
Photo Credit: Sergey Jakovsky [CC BY-NC-ND]

... The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said ministers' complacency over "morally bankrupt billionaires using the UK as a safe deposit box" had led to "assets laundered through the UK ... financing President Putin's war in Ukraine".

"The government's unwillingness to bring forward legislation to stem the flow of dirty money is likely to have contributed to the belief in Russia that the UK is a safe haven for corrupt wealth," the report said.

"Although ministers have spoken eloquently in the House about the need to clamp down on kleptocrats, rhetoric has not been matched by constructive action. Meanwhile corrupt money has continued to flow into the UK."

Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the UK's consistent failure to tackle international corruption had led the UK to become "a safe haven for dirty money", which he said was "a stain on our reputation".

" Dirty money brings corruption to our homes and turns our institutions against us," he added. "It attacks our society and our security. For far too long successive governments have allowed malign actors and kleptocrats to wash their dirty money in the London 'laundromat'. Complacency has left the door open to corrupt wealth taking root and morally bankrupt billionaires using the UK as a safe deposit box."

... The MPs said it was "shameful that it has taken a war to galvanise the government into action" ...

(Rupert Neate, The Guardian, 2022)

Fine words Tom, fine words. But why not prohibit property from being held in the name of overseas companies? Why not reform libel laws to stop the wealthy threatening journalists with enormous legal bills? Why not deal with Russian donations going into the Tory party's coffers? Why not deal with the scandal of allowing fast-track UK visas for those who can pay? This isn't just a "Russian problem". Underworld groups, wealthy criminal individuals and corrupt politicians from around the world also use the UK as a "laundromat". See the evidence for this in Part 1.

Part 1 of Dirty Money in the UK was published on February 1.