Extracts from Parliamentary Proceedings - Mar 19
|
Extracts from Commons Urgent Question on money laundering The
Minister for Security and Economic Crime (Mr Ben Wallace):..We
introduced deferred prosecution agreements to ensure that we
maximise incentives for companies to face up to fraud and
corruption. We are setting up the National Economic Crime Centre
within the National Crime Agency. We have brought together the many
strands of economic crime under one Minister—namely myself. We have
bolstered the Serious Fraud Office by ensuring...Request free trial
Extracts from Commons
Urgent Question on money laundering
The Minister for Security and Economic Crime (Mr Ben Wallace):..We introduced deferred prosecution agreements to ensure that we maximise incentives for companies to face up to fraud and corruption. We are setting up the National Economic Crime Centre within the National Crime Agency. We have brought together the many strands of economic crime under one Minister—namely myself. We have bolstered the Serious Fraud Office by ensuring access to blockbuster funding so as to ensure that big business and overseas oligarchs cannot use their wealth to obstruct justice. The previous Prime Minister, David Cameron, initiated an international anti-corruption summit. In response to the Panama papers, we established a joint financial analysis centre within the NCA. We have established one of the world’s first public registers of beneficial ownership of companies. We have helped to establish in all overseas territories and Crown dependencies a register of beneficial ownership, with mutual and, in some cases, live-time access to law enforcement. We have committed to establishing a public register of overseas owners of property in the United Kingdom... John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab):...Twelve months ago, I raised in an urgent question the issue of the Russian laundromat, as it was called, laundering £20 billion of criminal funds through the City of London. Despite all that the Minister has said, the National Crime Agency estimates that £90 billion from the rest of the world is still laundered through the City each year, while the United Nations estimates that $100 billion has been lost in the British overseas territories. Despite all the actions that he set out, there is still a major problem. At the weekend, the Government said that they would enter into “detailed discussions” on further reform proposals. I therefore have a number of questions to ask the Minister... Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend update the House on how the swift application of unexplained wealth orders under this Government is making a significant difference in tackling money laundering and terrorist finance, thereby demonstrating how seriously the Government take the issue? Mr Wallace: When an unexplained wealth order is made, the National Crime Agency or the Serious Fraud Office, for example, goes to the court to apply for it. A judge can give a period of time for the person to respond to the charge that the law enforcement agencies have made. If they cannot, we move to seizure. Usually, at the same time as an unexplained wealth order is applied for, we also apply for a freezing order to make sure that the person does not move the money or the property when the order is made. We believe that it is a very important tool and there are many more in the pipeline. We used it within 14 days of it coming into law on 31 January. Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op): Further to the questions asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), proceeds of the crime that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was killed over were laundered into a number of countries, in particular, by accounts from Dmitry Klyuev. No fewer than 12 other countries have, at the very least, initiated investigations into money laundered from this crime, because they believe that the necessary level of evidence has been met. Why has not one of the five UK authorities presented with this complaint over the past eight years, at the very least, done the same? Mr Wallace: If the hon. Lady has an issue about whether or not the National Crime Agency or the police have taken action, it is a matter for her to raise with the National Crime Agency. I have raised the same issues with the National Crime Agency—I have asked it, but it is operationally independent. What I can say is that by using the Proceeds of Crime Act, since 2010, we have recovered £1.4 billion of assets from crime. That is making a difference; it is taking the money out of the pockets of criminals, both internationally and domestically. Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab): Further to the questions that have been asked, the Minister might hide behind operational independence, but what does it say about this country when we are the only one that does not believe the threshold of evidence has been met? What leadership is the Minister providing, so that the UK takes this seriously, as all these other countries are doing?
Mr Wallace: Unless the hon. Gentleman can come
up with an alternative to operational independence and the rule
of law, he has to understand that that is how we operate. The
National Crime Agency has been asked on a number of occasions,
before a number of Select Committees in this House, about exactly
that case. I refer him to the answers that the National Crime
Agency gave to those Committees. Extract from Committee stage (Lords) (day 8) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill Baroness Stroud (Con):...One of the keys to this is our role in Europol, which the UK law enforcement community, particularly the National Crime Agency, identifies as its most immediate priority. Europol’s commitment to co-ordinating the response to human trafficking and modern slavery is key. In 2016, its Operation Ciconia Alba identified 549 potential victims and launched 102 further investigations in the space of a week, in a co-ordinated effort which spanned 28 nations... To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE |