The House Foreign Affairs Committee said the government’s complacency and the ministers’ failure to take effective action meant that Russian assets “laundered” through the City of London were used to finance Vladimir’s war chest. An extremely critical report said that “insufficient preparation and foresight” by the leadership of the Office of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development (FDCO) meant that the government was slow to impose sanctions, adding that it was a “shame” that war was needed on ministers. the 2022 law on financial crime (Transparency and Enforcement). The law is intended to prevent the laundering of corrupt funds through the UK real estate market. The report said the measures were still “not going far enough or fast enough” and did little to address the “fundamental mismatch” between the resources of law enforcement and the people they target. He also renewed calls for a “substantial increase” in funding for the National Crime Service, the Office of Serious Fraud and law enforcement. Rhetoric has not been combined with action The report also concluded that Russians believe the United Kingdom is a “safe haven” for their “corrupt wealth”, adding that the government was reluctant to pass legislation to stem the flow of dirty money. “The government’s reluctance to pass legislation to stem the flow of dirty money may have contributed to the belief in Russia that the United Kingdom is a safe haven for corrupt wealth,” the report said. “It is a shame that he has waged war to mobilize the government for action. “Although the ministers spoke eloquently in Parliament about the need to suppress kleptocracy, the rhetoric was not combined with constructive action. Meanwhile, corrupt money continued to flow into the UK. “Without the necessary means and resources, law enforcement services are useless. The threat (which) illegal funding poses to our national security requires a response that is considered serious.” The UK government has threatened to impose tough sanctions on Russia, but the commission said the sanctions were “insufficiently prepared and lack resources”. “The primary reason for the timely ineffective action on sanctions was the inadequate preparation and foresight by the FCDO leadership and the consequent understaffing in the sanctions unit,” he said. “Policy effectiveness requires practical support, adequate resources and appropriate capabilities, including the ability to gather the necessary information to support names.” Read more from Sky News: Putin’s cousin and Russia’s second richest man have been fined by UKMeasures for revealing dirty money hidden in real estate in the UK. President Tom Tugendhat said successive governments “have allowed malicious actors and kleptocrats to launder their dirty money” in the city. “Complacency has left the door open to the corrupt wealth that is taking root and to the morally bankrupt billionaires who are using the UK as a safe haven,” he said. “The UK’s position as a safe haven for dirty money is a stain on our reputation. The government must align the law with the morals of the British people and close the gaps that allow such continued exploitation.”
