Extracts from Lords proceedings; NCA - Jan 21
Friday, 22 January 2021 08:39
Extract from oral answer (Lords) on Alexei Navalny Lord Collins of
Highbury (Lab): My Lords, the Minister said that the Government
were keeping matters under review. Returning to the point made by
the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, it is now 15 months since the
publication of the Russia report and the Government have yet to
implement even one of the 21 recommendations. There are enormous
concerns that the City of London is still acting as a haven for
dark money connected to human rights abuses...Request free trial
Extract from oral answer
(Lords) on Alexei Navalny
(Lab): My Lords, the Minister said that the
Government were keeping matters under review. Returning to the
point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, it is now 15 months
since the publication of the Russia report and the Government have
yet to implement even one of the 21 recommendations. There are
enormous concerns that the City of London is still acting as a
haven for dark money connected to human rights abuses in Russia.
What steps will the Government take to ensure that UK businesses
are not complicit in human rights violations in Russia?
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
()
(Con): My Lords, I believe that I have already addressed, in part,
the issues of human rights and sanctions, and of course I will be
talking to the noble Lord as we bring forward some of the broader
sanction applications. On the report, we have acted. I have already
alluded to legislation, and we continue to step up our activity,
both domestically and internationally, to tackle illicit finance.
The National Crime Agency has increased the
number of investigations into corrupt leads and, among other
things, the UK has used existing immigration powers in dozens of
cases relating to hostile state activity. We will also review all
tier 1 investor visas granted before 5 April 2015...
To read all the exchanges, CLICK
HERE
Extract from third
reading of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct)
Bill
The Minister of State, Home Office ()
(Con):...It is also worth considering that, without the
power or activity that the Bill provides for, the
NCA would have been unable to take almost 60
firearms off the street in 2018 alone and the Metropolitan Police
would have been unable to seize more than 400 kilograms of class A
drugs between November 2018 and November 2019. MI5 and CT policing
would also have been impacted in their ability to thwart some 27
terror attacks since March 2017. I do not think that any noble Lord
would want to prevent this criminality being stopped in future,
which is what the amendment would do...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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