Contributions
663 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q I do not know whether you can see it, but the Bill is called the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill. How credible do you think corporate transparency in this country…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Let me just crystallise this. Are you saying that allies of President Putin used UK corporate structures to move money out of Russia? Catherine Belton: Yes, I am, of course.…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Catherine, I think I speak for all of us in saluting you for the courage you have shown in revealing what you have revealed. How important was it to President Putin that people…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Angela, we heard evidence on Tuesday from UK Finance that it was concerned that the verification regime proposed in the Bill is much weaker than the regime used across the AML…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Thank you—that is well put. Mike, what is your view on that? Mike Miller: I agree with Angela. London is such a large financial centre and there is such a volume of money moving…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q That is very useful. Finally, the folks from Lloyds bank, and others, described how easy it is to move money through a network of banks and then consolidate it into a final…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q I want to pursue that point for a moment. In the interests of good governance, would it not make sense to strengthen some of the obligations on directors to include, for…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Do you think that is a weakness in the Bill that we should think about strengthening? Angela Foyle: Around verification, yes. There is a spectrum, however. Requiring that…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q So UK corporate structures are being used for the worst money laundering, pretty much, in the world and the Bill does not fix the problem? Duncan Hames: Not yet. I hope you will…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q Did you say “doesn’t”? Duncan Hames: Doesn’t. What I said earlier was that if you use an offshore entity to hold UK property, as a result of legislation MPs passed this year you…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Third sitting)Q Duncan, I think I heard you say that UK corporate structures were the structure of choice for money laundering in what was the biggest money laundering scandal in Europe. That…27 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (First sitting)That was not the question. Are we investing enough? Andy Gould: Well, as a police officer, I will always say that you are never investing enough.25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Yes, it is a gap in the Bill. Thomas Mayne : Absolutely, and many thanks for bringing up the case. As you mentioned, none of the authors had any say in the matter and we did not…25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q One of the ironies of this Bill is that it is called the corporate transparency Bill, but it says very little about two kinds of people who maximise corporate transparency. One…25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)We have registries of beneficial ownership for assets and property. We have to try to make it possible for law enforcement to connect companies, individuals and assets. Do you…25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q My final question is: what is the correct interrelationship with the registries of beneficial ownership that are coming into place? Thom Townsend: Sorry, what do you mean?25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q It currently says “to minimise” the extent to which companies do bad things. Thom Townsend: That seems like a ridiculously low bar.25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q Thom, the registrar’s objectives are set out in clause 1. They are pretty woolly. How would you like to see them improved? Thom Townsend: Objective 4 does really need to say…25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q Susan, can I ask you to spell out what will happen if we do not align the verification procedures in the Bill with the obligations that currently bite on the AML sector? Dr…25 Oct 2022HANSARDEconomic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Second sitting)Q With your indulgence, Sir Christopher, I will ask a last question to Michelle Crotty. We have heard at the Foreign Affairs Committee that it is often difficult to get evidence…25 Oct 2022