(Isle of Wight) (Con): Our
report finds that the UK sanctions response to the war, while
ambitious, was initially limited by a lack of resourcing, and the
new beneficial owners register still contains loopholes that put
some individuals under the threshold for having to declare
beneficial ownership. That is against the public interest. The
report, which I strongly endorse—I encourage folks to read it
should they have time—proposes a number of reforms, including new
transatlantic sanctions partnerships, so that London and New York
can work more closely together, and the appropriate resourcing of
enforcement agencies. Both reports, and the Intelligence and
Security Committee, note the lack of funding for
the National Crime
Agency and other serious crime organisations in the
country and that some of them are threatened by the lawyers of
oligarchs—potential bad actors. We believe that to be very
strongly against our national interest...
...What is the scale of the problem today? From 2008 to 2015,
there were no state checks on tier 1 golden visas. At least eight
individuals now sanctioned, or under investigation, are thought
to have obtained citizenship through those means. They are
citizens like you or me, Mr Efford. How can that be right or in
the national interest? The National Crime
Agency estimates that money laundering costs the UK
£100 billion annually. Serious or organised crime is estimated to
have a price tag of £37 billion...
(Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
(Ind):...In response to the Committee’s recommendation to grant
additional funding for law enforcement, all the Government have
offered is money to fund the reform of Companies House, and they
have said that the Home Office will set out an annual report to
Parliament on unexplained wealth orders. Frankly, that is
pathetic, and today’s statement means that the uplift in the
Serious Fraud Office’s core resources budget is simply not good
enough to match the level of crime in this country. The UK spends
£850 million a year on funding core national level economic crime
enforcement bodies, but economic crime costs the UK £290 billion
a year. The National Crime
Agency has suffered a 4.2% decrease in its core
budget over the past five years, yet fraud has risen
dramatically. It accounts for 40% of all recorded crime, yet
fraud prosecutions have fallen from 42,000 in 2011 to 13,500 in
2021—a 67% decrease in a decade. The Government are simply
lagging far behind the scale of the problem. The
NCA needs resourcing to the scale required, and
the Minister needs to raise the Government’s game...
(Hornsey and Wood Green)
(Lab):...The existing budget for economic crime law enforcement
is £400 million, with only £100 million of that coming from the
Treasury. That appears to be entirely inadequate.
The National Crime
Agency the Serious Fraud Office and other bodies
urgently need more funding to row back years of inactivity in
this area, protect legitimate business and safeguard our national
security...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Affairs ():...On overall funding,
combatting illicit finance requires the necessary resources to
enforce our anti-money laundering laws and bring kleptocrats to
justice, which is why the Government have developed a sustainable
funding model that demonstrates our commitment to tackling
economic crime. We are investing in the National Crime
Agency and have increased its budget year on year
since 2019. Since February, we have also created a new unit in
the NCA, the combating kleptocracy cell, which
is focused on targeting corrupt elites and their wealth in the
UK. The combination of last year’s spending review settlement and
private sector contributions through the new economic crime levy
will provide funding of £400 million over the spending review
period. That includes £63 million for Companies House to
implement its transformation programme, which I already
mentioned...
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