Extract from QSD
(Lords) on Financial Fraud: Vulnerable People
(LD): My Lords, there do
not appear to be any definite figures for the amount and extent
of fraud in the UK. There is, however, general agreement that it
is very, very large, that it is growing rapidly in volume and
sophistication and that it can ruin people’s lives. The CPS
reckons that fraud is now the most commonly experienced crime in
England and Wales, with 5 million offences in the first half of
this year. That is a rise of 32% on the same period last year—and
all these figures, alarmingly large as they are, may well
understate the case. The National Crime
Agency says that fewer than 20% of cases of fraud
are reported, with many victims too embarrassed to make a report
and perhaps, in the financial sector, too fearful of damaging
their reputation...
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Extracts from Commons
debate on Economic Crime
(Barking) (Lab): I beg
to move, that this House recognises the devastating impact
economic crime has on individuals, businesses, families and
society; considers it unacceptable that the cost of money
laundering alone exceeds £100 billion a year according to
the National Crime
Agency is concerned that in the wake of the
Pandora Papers leak there is inadequate transparency, regulation
and resources in place to effectively tackle this severe problem;
and calls on the Government to bring forward legislative
proposals to tackle economic crime as a matter of priority,
integral to which are provisions to introduce a criminal offence
for failure to prevent economic crime, reform Companies House and
introduce a beneficial ownership register for the overseas owners
of UK property...
(Thirsk and Malton)
(Con):...Of course, we are talking not just about huge
international organised criminals, but about domestic organised
criminals. Recently, a Yorkshire “businessman” called Manni
Hussain had an unexplained wealth order made against him by
the National Crime
Agency for £10 million. He presented himself as a
bona fide businessperson, but he has connections with some of the
worst organised criminals in this country. Murderers, drug
dealers—all these people are facilitating crime in this country,
and we are leaving open loopholes that we could close and clean
up our economy...
...Whether it is £10 million for the smaller scale organised
criminal or billions of pounds for international kleptocrats, we
have the opportunity to close those things down. The money is no
use to anybody unless they can spend it. To spend it, they need
to be able to salt it away and legitimise it. That is what our
shell companies do under the lax regime of Companies House, where
£12 sets up a company with no checks and balances, no identity
checks and no requirement to check who is the beneficial owner.
Trusts are not included, so money can go into trusts. There is no
oversight of trusts in the UK or UK property. The Government,
rightly, say they will bring forward a register of overseas
entities. The City of London—its knowledge, its power, our legal
firms and our accountancy firms—facilitates this stuff to the
tune of £100 billion a year in the UK. As the motion sets out,
£100 billion a year is money laundered in the UK. That figure is
directly from the National Crime
Agency and that is not even the full extent of
economic crime—it is that big...
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