Contributions
487 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q You give advice on what makes good supervision. Peter Swabey: We give advice on what is good governance for organisations, not on the supervisory role.27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q I will ask one question, Catherine, because many have been asked. I join with others who have met you, or read your book, and are full of admiration for your courage. For those…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q How many were there altogether? Catherine Belton: Five cases. It cost my publisher £1.5 million to deal with the cases, and they got only to the preliminary hearing stage before…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Sanctions. Professor Jason Sharman: Sanctions. I think you cannot. There is proper process. As I understand it, unless there is a formal state of war that obtains between two…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Following on from that, I completely take the point about enforcement, but would a failure to prevent power make any difference, assuming it was enforced? Professor Jason…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q That is very hard—you know that. Professor Jason Sharman: Indeed. That is hopefully something that the Bill will do something to correct. It may be different if you are talking…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q That is the point. Did I quote you incorrectly, then? Professor Jason Sharman: No, you quoted me correctly, but that is money that was stolen in one place and moved to another…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q I accept it is different from a Russian oligarch, but according to Bill Browder we have something like £30 billion of Russian state assets sitting frozen at the moment. Of…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q This is the state I am talking about. Professor Jason Sharman: Okay, for the Russian state. In that case, I think that would be wonderful. I know Browder mentioned earlier…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q The Italians appear to have conquered this—I do not know if you know about that—through the stuff they have done on the mafia. The Canadians appear to have introduced a new…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Because time is limited, I will not engage with that, but it is a really interesting view. I want to quote something to you that I think you said—apologies if I have got it…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q I hope the Committee will look at our amendments on information sharing, the funding of enforcement agencies, shareholder information, Companies House checks and AML…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q I very much take your point, and I hope some of the amendments we put in address what you said about wanting to tighten up on the proactive role of Companies House. I wanted to…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q Would you go down to zero—all shareholding data? Chris Taggart: Yes. With shareholders, we ultimately need to get to a statement of fact—an authoritative record—so that what…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q Thank you, Graham, for all the work that you are doing. Even the suggestions you have made are very sensible. Obviously the data that is collected is important, but one of the…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Of lots of us around the table. Graham Barrow: Shell companies are containers. Effectively, it is a container for assets. They are used in a whole variety of ways. They are used,…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q I want to take you back to the work you did on Deutsche Bank. First, what additional powers did it lead you to think you needed? Secondly, how did the FCA respond—what was…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q ICAEW represents what proportion of the accountancy profession, do you reckon? Angela Foyle: I do not know the proportion, but there are about a hundred and something thousand…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q You do not know the proportion, but the truth is that there will be people who are financial advisers and accountants who are not members. You have a policing role, but if they…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Yes, but you are the big one. Angela Foyle: We are the bigger one, but they may be by someone else. There are also people who are not regulated by any professional body who can…27 Oct 2022