Economic Crime Bill: MPs back law to speed-up oligarch sanctionson March 7, 2022 at 10:36 pm

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A plan to stop wealthy Russians using the UK to launder money gets through the Commons at a rapid rate.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Image source, Getty Images

A law designed to harden and quicken UK sanctions against allies of Vladimir Putin has got through the House of Commons at rapid speed.

The government says its Economic Crime Bill will stop wealthy Russians using the City of London for money laundering and hiding ill-gotten gains.

All parties agreed to back it in an effort to help stymie Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Home Secretary Priti Patel called the Russian president a “gangster”.

During the debate – condensed into a single day to try to get the measures into place as quickly as possible – she also said: “The UK must send a strong signal that it will not be a home for corruption.”

The bill, which now goes to the House of Lords and is expected to become law this month, contains several measures to tackle oligarchs and companies associated with Mr Putin.

These include:

  • Forcing foreign owners of UK companies to declare and verify their identities
  • Prison sentences of up to five years for those who fail to do so
  • Strengthening Unexplained Wealth Orders – powers brought into force in 2018 to counter suspected criminal money invested in property, but used only four times since then
  • Making it simpler for UK authorities to sanction individuals already punished by allies, such as the US and the EU

Since Russia began the invasion of Ukraine, UK assets held by some individuals, banks and firms close to Mr Putin have already been frozen.

But a number have been sanctioned by the US or the EU, but not by the UK.

Several amendments to the government’s plans were defeated in votes and the bill as a whole got through the Commons unopposed.

For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We must vow that never again will we allow our major institutions to be so corrupted and so influenced by corrupt elites, that we will give those involved in corruption and economic crime no place to hide, be it for Russia or anyone else in the world, we will no longer stand for this here in the UK.”

Recent research by campaign group Transparency International suggests £1.5bn worth of UK property has been bought by Russians accused of corruption or links to the Kremlin since 2016.

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