(Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
(Lab):...We still do not know the origin of Mr Banks’s donations
to Leave.EU. When the Electoral Commission warned about the
poor National Crime
Agency investigation, Mr Banks sued the Electoral
Commission and forced it to take down a statement about his lies.
We have heard from regulators who fear judicial review because a
subject access request might come in from representatives of
organised crime groups that are seeking banking licences. This is
complete madness. Perhaps there are perfectly innocent
explanations for all this, and maybe I have too suspicious a
mind, but I would like to know the truth. I want newspapers and
investigators to be able to hunt down the truth and, where
necessary, publish it...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice ():...I recognise that there
is a lot of concern about sources of money. The hon. Member for
Eltham () and a number of other
colleagues have talked about the source of funding. I do
recognise its importance, but stress that the legal profession
has a robust due diligence mechanism in place to prevent dirty
money corrupting our courts. Anti-money laundering regulations
exist to combat illicit financing. The suspicious activity
reporting regime requires legal professions to report to the UK
financial intelligence unit within the National Crime
Agency where terrorist activity or money laundering
is suspected. Law enforcement officials must act safe in the
knowledge that the Government defend their investigative remit as
we all collectively rely on their industry. There has been a lot
of talk about following the money. I just make the point that we
do have robust regulations in place, as my hon. Friend, the Chair
of the Justice Committee said earlier...
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