It is a stain on the English reputation. In a parliamentary report published Thursday, June 30, MPs point to the failure of the British government in the fight against” dirty money “ Russian in the UK. This dubious money has never stopped irrigating the country, despite the determination of the authorities displayed on the subject even before the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, on February 24th. In this report, the Foreign Affairs Committee considers that London’s declarations of intent have not translated into the adoption of sufficiently strong and concrete measures. “For far too long, successive governments have allowed nefarious actors and kleptocrats to wash their dirty money in London’s laundromat”denounces the conservative chairman of the commission, Tom Tugendhat.
End of “golden passports”
The movement began with the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, before gaining momentum after the 2008 financial crisis and the granting of “golden passports” (banned last February), a device inaugurated when the Labor were in power to stimulate investment in the UK. The country is rapidly concentrating the largest number of Russian oligarchs in the world, hence the nickname “Londongrad” attributed to certain chic districts of the capital.
The association Transparency International estimates that 4.4 billion pounds sterling (5 billion euros) of foreign money has been invested in properties in the United Kingdom, of which around 20% comes from Russia. This dubious money seeps into financial or real estate markets, or is used for political influence.
Legislation still too lax
Current UK legislation does not go far enough, despite its recent strengthening, MEPs point out. It still allows the oligarchs to hide their assets and launder illegal money inflows. For Commission Chairman Tom Tugendhat, “dirty money brings corruption into our homes and turns our institutions against us”. “He is attacking our society and our security,” he adds.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom has decided to fill the legal loopholes that undermine its fiscal policy. The parliamentarians’ report emphasizes, in this regard, that it is “shameful that it took a war” to get the government to act. And insists on the fact that the sanctions taken in the United Kingdom – which target more than 1,100 Russian nationals and a hundred companies with links, directly or indirectly, with the Kremlin – must lead to criminal investigations.
The new measures, enacted in a Economic Crime Act enacted recently, require a person targeted by an investigation to reveal the sources of unexplained wealth as well as their true identity “to ensure that criminals cannot hide behind secret chains of front companies”. Failure to comply with these rules could result in the accused being sentenced to up to five years in prison.