Prevailing Financial Crimes Make London a Safe Haven for Money Launderer
The UK’s capital is exposed to multiple financial crimes including money laundering and thefts with multiple investment breaches in the past.
The primary causes of illicit financial funding are intensified around the city of London as the money launderers consider it a haven for their involvements. Since the dawn of Russia’s ongoing conflict, a number of scrutinized illegal financial activities are conducted around the city.
One of the major challenges faced by the United Kingdom is the passive foreign policy which accepts the investments from the countries with lenient security approaches for the financial crimes. The issue that makes the Londongrad a safe place for the transfers of illicit funds is the acceptance of large sums of money at various platforms in the city.
According to Joy Macknight, the editor of the Banker, Financial Times Group UK, London is a centre of dirty money, and the issue of Ukraine has once again raised the concerns.
The Transparency International (TI) UK recently added to their reports about the number of questionable funds worth 6.7 billion GBP. As per TI, the assets in central London and other areas of the city like Westminster and Kensington form a massive part of this value.
On this news from the TI, the independent UK also reported that: “It is held by companies in Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The secrecy provided by these offshore financial centres is often used by those seeking to hide their ownership of assets.”
There are a number of economic crime acts in the UK, one is passed during the Ukraine conflict, which mentioned setting up a register for the overseas entities and their beneficial owners.
According to Farzana Baduel, the CEO of the financial firm that deals in public relations, Curzon PR, “The UK has incredible soft power around the world, but we are resting on the laurels of our past and we are watching our integrity disintegrate. I have worked with over 18 different governments and they say to my face ‘ugh’ we can buy your prime ministers,”.
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