(Barking) (Lab):...I find
the Minister’s introduction quite extraordinary, given that money
laundering, fraud and economic crime are on the rise even on the
National Crime Agency’s own figures. Has she had
regard to the revelations in, most recently, the Pandora papers
or the FinCEN papers, where it is seen that Britain, more than
any other jurisdiction, is at the heart of economic crime, fraud,
corruption and money laundering?
(Glasgow Central)
(SNP):...Economic crime has a devastating impact on our economy,
with the National Crime
Agency estimating that money laundering costs the
UK over £100 billion every year. The amount that the Government
seek to put to it seems small by comparison. It is a big
business, and it requires a more concerted approach. Reports from
the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Foreign Affairs
Committee have shown that the consequences of this problem are
not solely financial. The flow of dirty money into the UK impacts
our national security and the integrity of our democracy. Trust
in public institutions is incredibly low, and the UK Government
are helping to facilitate that by providing places for criminal
elements to hide without any real sanction...
:...Just to put that further
into context, we are now the jurisdiction of choice for far too
many kleptocrats, far too many criminals, far too many people who
avoid tax and far too many people who launder money. Money
laundering in itself is an activity that leads to the funding of
terrorism, drug smuggling and all sorts of other crimes that we
and the Government ought to want to bear down on in a very firm
way, but we are just not doing so. The National Crime
Agency has a figure of £100 billion that it thinks
is laundered into the UK each year, but I think that is a very
conservative estimate. It is probably plucked out of thin air a
little bit, and I think the real or true figure is probably much
greater. We only have to look at Moody’s credit rating, on which
we have gone down a notch. One of the reasons for that happening
is that it has argued there has been a
“weakening in the UK’s institutions and governance”..
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