Periodic reports on exercise of power to make regulations under section 1

Part of Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill [Lords] – in the House of Commons at 4:00 pm on 1 May 2018.

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Photo of Chris Bryant Chris Bryant Chair, Finance Committee (Commons), Chair, Finance Committee (Commons) 4:00, 1 May 2018

I shall be brief, Mr Speaker. Several hon. Members have spoken about the dangers of our legislation meaning that dodgy money will leave the overseas territories and go to some other kind of territory. First, that will probably be a good thing for each of those territories. Secondly, and far more importantly, all too often the way we have run our affairs in this country, and how our overseas territories have run theirs, has meant we have been a magnet for that money. For a series of different reasons, rich people who have stolen money from their own people like having it squirreled away here or in our overseas territories or, as is normally the case, in a mixture of the two. That is because they like to send their children to our expensive schools; because they like to go shopping in the UK; because, ironically enough, they like to enforce their contracts in law in British courts; and because they know that the whole system of financial and land registration in this country is relatively weak. That is why I warmly welcome the changes we are going to bring about.

In the end, money and assets are only ever hidden from public sight either because they have come from some illegal source in the first place, or because somebody is trying to prevent the legitimate authorities in other countries from taxing or taking them. Public registers are the only way to make sure that what is on a register is verifiably true and correct. The public are often a much better investigator than the investigating authorities, which simply do not have the time or the resources to do the job fully, as we have seen from the Paradise papers and in other ways recently.

Over the years, I have asked a Prime Minister—one or other of them—32 times for a Magnitsky provision. Perhaps, in the end, one has to get Conservatives on board. Perhaps it is good to have Conservative friends. Many Conservative Members, including some who are not present because they are Ministers, such as Dominic Raab, and particularly Mr Djanogly, who just spoke, have been adamant in their pursuit of this matter. They have been very clear and sometimes courageous in trying to tell their Government that we need to act. Ironically, on 7 March 2013 the House agreed unanimously that we would bring in a Magnitsky measure; I am glad that we are now finally going to do it.

Mr Seely referred to Richard and Christopher Chandler. I have seen the documents as well, and it is important to bear in mind that at the heart of them is an allegation of money laundering. It is about taking money that has come from decidedly dodgy sources—often stolen from the Russian people—and cleansing it, as it were, through the system so that it can be used for other illegitimate means. The fact that that has infected our country’s political system should be a matter of concern for us all.

In the end, I see this all in the context of our relationship with the Russian Federation. I have been concerned for some time that we tend to take two steps forward and one step back, or sometimes one step forward and two steps back. After the Salisbury incident, it was great that the Prime Minister managed to secure such a strong backing from so many countries around the world for the expulsion of so-called diplomats, but if we do not match that action with action on financial liberality and people’s ability to slosh their dirty money around other parts of the world, the Russians simply will not take it seriously. It is interesting that the American sanctions on Oleg Deripaska have for the first time made him start to retreat from various different markets, including with En+, a business that frankly should never have been registered in this country in the first place.