Extracts from committee stage (Lords) (day 4) of the Financial Services Bill - Mar 3
Thursday, 4 March 2021 07:17
Lord Eatwell (Lab)...So what is going wrong? An important clue is
to be found in the section of the 2018 report of the Financial
Action Task Force dealing with the substance of UK measures to deal
with money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The report
states that, with respect to the UK Financial Intelligence Unit,
which is the financial division of the National Crime Agency...
Baroness Kramer (LD):...I can see where the noble Lord, Lord Sikka,
is going with Amendment 51A, but I am...Request free trial
(Lab)...So what is going wrong? An important
clue is to be found in the section of the 2018 report of the
Financial Action Task Force dealing with the substance of UK
measures to deal with money laundering and the financing of
terrorism. The report states that, with respect to the UK Financial
Intelligence Unit, which is the financial division of the
National Crime Agency...
(LD):...I can see where the noble Lord, , is going with Amendment 51A, but I am in the same camp
as other noble Lords; I pick up the comments made by the noble
Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, which were also made by the noble
Lord, , and others. We have absolutely inadequate resources
for enforcement in the whole area of financial crime; that applies
to the regulators and the Serious Fraud Office. Just a couple of
weeks ago, I spoke to a former police commissioner and asked why,
in a particular instance, he had not turned to the National
Crime Agency’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The reply was,
“It’s one man and a dog.” It is hideously underresourced. Also, our
local police forces, which so often end up bearing the brunt of
enforcement, are not resourced to deal with crime of this
specialist nature and reach; neither are they sufficiently
resourced when they come across companies with vast resources. The
inequality of arms is exceedingly questionable...
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