Unexplained wealth

How much corrupt money is laundered through the UK each year? This was the question raised by Transparency International UK. Answer: According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), “At least a hundred billion pounds of illicit wealth is likely to be laundered through the UK each year.” Lo and behold, a large portion of that illicit wealth comes from the poorest of the countries.

According to Transparency International UK, “This is enough money to have a real impact on the people it is stolen from. Although these figures may sound implausibly large, it is worth remembering that the cost of buying just 10 large houses in London could be at least GBP 100 million, and there are now almost 40,000 properties registered in London, whose owners have hidden their identities behind shell companies in offshore secrecy havens – the favoured corporate vehicle of the corrupt.”

On February 1, Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) went into force. The new rules “allow authorities to freeze and recover property if individuals cannot explain why they own assets worth more than their income and show they have acquired them legally.” The new rules are “designed to stop corrupt people from using Britain as a safe haven…..”

On January 31, Transparency International UK identified five cases where “there are sufficient grounds for suspicion that an asset has been acquired with the proceeds of corruption.” Case number 1: Kenwood Gate. Suspected owner: First family of Azerbaijan. Case number 2: Flats 138A and 138B. Suspected owner: Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister Russia. Case number 3: Down House and Fairview. Suspected owner: Ahmed Mahmoud Azwai, former Libyan Major General. Case number 4: Whittaker Street. Suspected owner: Bukola Saraki, President Nigerian Senate. Case number 5: 16-16A Avenfield House and 17-17A Avenfield House. Suspected owner: Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Under the UWOs, there are three conditions that apply: One, the subject must be a ‘politically exposed person’. Two, known income must be insufficient to have purchased the property in question. Three, the assets must be more than GBP 50,000. A politically exposed person (PEP) is “someone who is or has been entrusted with prominent public functions by an international organisation, a state other than the UK or another EEA state, a family member of such person, a close associate or someone connected to them in another way.”

According to David Green, the outgoing head of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), “We have been combing through all existing case work and intelligence and have matters of interest that might transmogrify.”

Under the new law, “It is a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly make a statement that is false or misleading in response to an unexplained wealth order. Doing so can result in two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine.”

Rachel Davies Teka is the head of Advocacy Transparency International UK. She says, “The introduction of UWOs would help combat the fight against ‘dirty money’ flowing into Britain. They will allow law-enforcement agencies to much more easily investigate assets that are highly likely to have been bought using corrupt money, often stolen from populations in some of the poorest parts of the world.”

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh