The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office () (Con):...I thank my
noble friend for his Amendment 86,
which would create a requirement for risk rating for submissions
of suspicious activity reports, known as SARs. As my noble friend
acknowledges, SARs intelligence is a critical tool in our ability
to identify, disrupt and recover the hundreds of millions of
pounds which underpin the most serious and organised crime in the
UK. However, it is often not possible for reporters of SARs to
assess the level of risk related to a SAR, or the underlying
offence associated with the report, when it is submitted to the
National Crime
Agency That is because the reporter may not have a
complete picture of information on which to make such a rating.
This could lead to potentially inaccurate information being
submitted to the NCA if this were a requirement,
as well as additional burdens on reporters that would distract
resources from tackling economic crime.
Furthermore, the NCA already has procedures in
place to enable reporters to alert specific concerns. It has
issued an online guidance of glossary codes to reporters, which
can be included in their reports and which allow them to label a
SAR with a specific concern. These glossary codes can, for
example, relate to suspicions of vulnerable children, human
trafficking, or firearms offences, and enable the National Crime
Agency to triage the reports so they can be allocated
appropriately...
(CB:...Acting against SLAPPs
belongs in this Bill. In previous days of debate and again today
there have been references to the “London laundromat” and similar
terms. In some ways, you could argue that the UK has become a
market leader in economic crime. It is possible to go on
kleptocracy tours, where you drive around London and buildings
are pointed out to you—breathtakingly expensive properties
derived from unexplained wealth. In April 2022, the National Crime
Agency reported that the scale of money laundering
in the UK was in excess of £100 billion per year. SLAPPs are an
inseparable part of this dark side of our financial industry.
In the same month as the National Crime
Agency published its report on money laundering, the
Foreign Policy Centre and ARTICLE 19 published the tellingly
entitled, London Calling. They have made it clear to me—I do not
want to up the ante on the noble Baroness, Lady Stowell—that at
least 70% of the SLAPP cases reported to them have a direct
connection to economic crime...
For context, OPEN HERE
