December 11, 2021

Technical Staff

Oliver Bullough addressed the main factors underpinning the money laundering phenomena in Britain in a fascinating article published in the Guardian on Friday, December 10, 2021. He said 

 “Britain is a primary enabler of the autocrats she is so worried about; we are butler to the world’s worst people. Our shell companies hide their money, our private schools educate their children, our lawyers defend their reputations, our financial markets fund their companies, and our banks launder their money. It’s absurd to talk about the threat that dictators pose to our democracy without acknowledging how without our assistance they wouldn’t be a threat at all. It’s like condemning a war without mentioning you supplied the weapons, or criticising a party that took place in your own house.”

On December 8, 2021, Chatham House staged the introduction of a significant study by a group of academics who forensically deconstructed Britain’s role in fostering corruption, coming to disturbing findings despite the sober language used to express them. “The UK has a kleptocracy problem,” the authors of the study wrote. “The country’s international reputation has already been undermined by the inflow of suspect capital from the servicing of post-Soviet elites. Beyond this question of image, there are serious questions to consider of the integrity of the UK’s public institutions and the equitability of its laws.”

Simply put, Britain does considerably more than support money laundering: it provides safe havens for global kleptocrats. Britain is unconcerned about the grave abuses of human rights perpetrated by individuals who use the UK to launder their dirty money. The UK government is responsible for all this mess.

Money laundering and corruption in the United Kingdom should worry the United States, as should the ramifications for the US anti-corruption effort. On Monday, December 6, 2021, Joe Biden’s White House released a detailed, intelligent, and remarkable strategy for combating corruption, which it has designated as a security priority since kleptocracy boosts the nation’s enemies while weakening its allies.

The Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) should take action and put pressure on the United Kingdom to modify its laws, rules, regulations, and policies on money laundering within its borders.