Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to tackle illicit finance.

This question was answered on 28th March 2022
Money obtained through corruption or criminality is not welcome in the UK, and the Government is taking concerted action to combat the threat of illicit finance from source to destination, including that linked to Russia.

In recent years, the Government published a landmark public-private partnership Economic Crime Plan. The Plan outlines a comprehensive national response to economic crime and sets out 52 actions being taken by both the public and private sectors to ensure the UK cannot be abused for economic crime.

The Government is also bringing forward significant investment to tackle economic crime; the combination of last year’s Spending Review settlement and private sector contributions through the Economic Crime (AML) Levy will provide economic crime funding totalling around £400 million over the next three years.

Most recently, following the Prime Minister’s announcement in February, the Government has brought forward the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act to crack down further on dirty money and corrupt elites in the UK. The Act:

• Introduces a “Register of Overseas Entities Beneficial Ownership of UK property” to tackle foreign criminals using UK property to launder money.
• Reforms our Unexplained Wealth Orders regime, to remove key barriers and help target more corrupt elites.
• Strengthens the Treasury’s ability to take action against sanctions breaches.

This is not all. The Government has announced a new dedicated Kleptocracy cell in the National Crime Agency and published details of further upcoming legislation to clamp down on money-laundering and illicit finance. This will include fundamental reform of Companies House, enhanced information sharing powers and new powers to seize crypto assets finance.