The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022

Slaughter questioned why it took a war for action against dirty money to take place, suggesting years of inaction due to Russian oligarchs' financial contributions to the Tory party.

Doughty raised concerns about cryptocurrency mechanisms for evading sanctions, calling for urgent action from the Home Secretary to address these issues.

Shannon highlighted a recent £215 million money laundering seizure by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and called for discussions with Finance and Justice Ministers to address such issues.

West questioned why it has taken so long for the Government to reform Companies House, which she considers open to abuse and a danger to national security.

Moran expressed concern over the delayed release of a review on golden visas, which has been commissioned for four years but not yet released.

Bryant criticised the Government's refusal to act earlier and highlighted that sanctioned individuals had previously been given visas, inviting them to engage in criminal activities.

Hollinrake emphasised the need for holding individual executives accountable for money laundering fines rather than treating them as a cost of doing business.

Cooper questioned whether the National Crime Agency would experience staffing cuts despite the Home Secretary's predecessor asking for plans to be drawn up.

West brought up concerns about Companies House's capacity in dealing with verification of IDs and its role as a policeman, questioning the Home Secretary on additional funding.

Bryant further questioned how much money Companies House would need to take on its new role as a policeman, emphasising the importance of capacity for enforcement.

Slaughter questioned whether the Home Secretary would address confusion over professional bodies overseeing compliance with anti-money laundering rules, as well as introducing a new offence for failure to prevent offences.

Supports the Bill but believes it is long overdue and does not go far enough. Points out that £100 billion of dirty money flows through the UK annually, impacting the country's reputation as a financial hub negatively. Emphasises the need for stronger measures to tackle corporate crime and fraud, including provisions for Companies House to verify shareholder information and addressing kleptocracy enablers.

Intervenes to remind the Labour MP that they are discussing the Economic Crime Bill, suggesting she is not focusing on its purpose.

Agrees with Yvette Cooper about the necessity for courts to limit libellous actions against authors like Catherine Belton, which waste court time.

Raises concerns over the seizure of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals during times of war. Also questions how to track money from British companies that ends up in Russian hands, potentially funding the Ukraine conflict.

Concerned about adequate resourcing for Companies House's new enforcement powers, worried about underfunding leading to less attention on day-to-day fraud affecting constituents.

Suggests that strengthening the whistleblowing regime could enhance detection of financial crimes like fraud, improving intervention and prosecution effectiveness.

Supports the Bill as it tackles international financial crime, citing figures of up to 5% of gross world product affected by economic crime. Emphasises the link between fraud and cyber-crime, noting the significant volume of such crimes in the UK. Highlights the need for transparency regarding who controls corporate structures and assets. Advocates for improved suspicious activity reports regime and direct intelligence sharing between banks, while also suggesting reforms to include all types of economic crime including volume fraud. Calls for inter-ministerial communication to enhance information-sharing capabilities and proposes a more proactive approach involving slow-down or pause payments system as a potential game changer.

Supports the idea of adding friction to the payment system to reduce economic crime instances. Suggests that banks should not bear all the responsibility for authorised push payment fraud refunds, proposing incentives for receiving banks and account hosting companies to more effectively tackle fraudulent accounts.

Welcomes the Bill, highlighting its overdue nature and the cost of economic crime. Criticises delays in addressing economic crimes and questions the benefits of having a large Companies House register with inaccurate information. Emphasises the need for robust supervision and deterrents against those enabling economic crimes. Raises concerns about the current state of Companies House's register, including duplicate entries and incorrect data. Questions the effectiveness of the Government’s verification process for company registration and suggests increasing fees to improve oversight. Discusses the impact of Scottish limited partnerships on money laundering activities and cross-border implications with Ireland. Calls for greater inter-agency coordination and funding for law enforcement agencies.

[INTERVENTION] Expressed alarm at Companies House accepting a business registration with Russian director without raising concerns, highlighting systemic issues in verification processes.

Welcomes the Bill’s introduction of reforms to Companies House and limited partnerships. Supports measures for law enforcement to handle cryptoassets, highlighting increased risks from unregulated technology. Emphasises the need for robust defences against money laundering and fraud. Raises concerns about whistleblowing protections not extending to contractors or volunteers despite their importance in uncovering financial crime. Calls for an office of the whistleblower to provide broader protection.

Ms. Margaret Hodge supports the Bill's reform of Companies House but criticises its piecemeal approach towards anti-money laundering regulations and enforcement agencies’ funding. She calls for seizing assets from sanctioned individuals, providing sustainable funding for enforcement agencies, abolishing legal costs compensation for successful defendants in economic crime prosecutions, protecting whistleblowers, ensuring accountability to Parliament, closing transparency loopholes for trusts and land ownership, reforming suspicious activity reports (SARs) regimes, supervising AML supervision, and revising corporate criminal liability laws.

Mr. Kevin Hollinrake intervenes to support Ms. Margaret Hodge's stance on Danske Bank, noting the scale of money laundering (£200 billion) through its Estonian branch primarily involving Russian kleptocrats. He agrees that fines are not a deterrent and calls for extending failure-to-prevent offences to include economic crime and false accounting with individual directorial responsibility.

Hollinrake supports the bill's measures to combat economic crime, including transparency reforms and increased scrutiny of shell companies. He highlights the link between money laundering and drug-related tragedies in his constituency and calls for stricter regulations on financial institutions. Hollinrake also proposes extending failure-to-prevent provisions and introducing cost protection for other elements of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Additionally, he suggests using Russian foreign currency reserves held in the UK to pay reparations to Ukraine.

Grant agrees with Hollinrake's point about the injustice faced by whistleblowers, who suffer lifetime losses of earnings while those convicted for financial misconduct receive lenient sentences with consideration given to their loss of earnings. He highlights the imbalance in sentencing and calls for more equitable treatment.

Ms Valerie Vaz highlights issues such as inadequate identity verification processes, high costs to victims correcting inaccurate information, and the need for higher registration fees. She mentions a constituent affected by fraudulent company registrations and raises concerns about the effectiveness of the overseas entity register.

Welcomes the Bill for beneficial ownership transparency but expresses concern over lack of personal liability for corporate crime and inadequate enforcement mechanisms. Emphasises need for robust failure to prevent mechanism beyond fraud, improved whistleblowing regime, extending prescribed persons order to all professional regulators, expanding worker definitions, upgrading money laundering regulations, and improving process for raising concerns.

Intervenes to highlight case of his constituent, Ian Foxley, a contractor not covered by existing legislation. Suggests that improved whistleblowing would have allowed redress for such individuals.

Intervened to question the Government’s priorities, pointing out the discrepancy in bringing forward 'failure to prevent' legislation for immigration issues but not for economic crime. He suggested that this highlights a potential misalignment of policy focus.

Critiques the government's record on tackling economic crime, highlighting lack of prosecutions of Russian individuals despite establishment welcome. Points to inadequacies in funding and resources for Companies House and National Crime Agency. Raises concerns about omissions such as corporate liability provisions and whistleblower protections. Emphasises need for anti-SLAPP legislation and better organised supervisory bodies. Cites example of NCA facing a £1.5 million claim, impacting its budget severely. Argues for cost protection measures in enforcement cases to prevent large financial penalties against agencies. Calls for improved funding through proceeds of crime recovery. Criticises revolving door from public to private sector in SFO staff movement and highlights staffing issues within the SFO.

Critiques the current draft of the Companies House Bill for insufficient measures to combat corporate fraud and economic crime. He raises cases where directors have evaded accountability despite multiple offences. Suggests amendments such as enabling Companies House to look through company structures similarly to HMRC, holding directors personally liable, banning non-human entity ownership, and basing reporting requirements on total undertaking size.

The amendment seeks improvements in enforcing company law but faces criticism for its modest provisions. The speaker raises concerns about enforcement powers, inconsistencies in PSC statements, trusts obscuring ownership, and the misuse of compulsory strike-off processes by directors to avoid obligations.

Welcomes the Bill but expresses concerns about its effectiveness due to gaps and limitations. Highlights that fraud accounts for 40% of all crime in the UK, emphasising the need for a better-regulated system. Raises concerns over resourcing and funding for Companies House, questioning how it aligns with government priorities to cut spending and reduce civil service numbers. Suggests increasing registration costs for new companies as a way to fund necessary resources. Questions the proactive querying power of the registrar and the strike-off process for companies that have submitted fraudulent information, advocating for an insolvency process to ensure returns to creditors can be made. Expresses concern over limited partnerships being used for fraudulent activity and calls for measures to prevent sanctioned individuals from laundering money through the UK. Discusses the importance of communication and information sharing between regulated sector entities and civil liability risks.

Welcomes the introduction of the Economic Crime Bill but expresses concerns about delays in addressing economic crime. Emphasises the need for urgency, improved beneficial ownership transparency, enhanced resources for enforcement, and stronger measures to prevent misuse of limited partnerships and shell companies. Raises issues around Companies House verification, third-party agent oversight, asset recovery provisions for cryptoassets, and corporate criminal liability extensions.

Asks about identity verification checks by authorised corporate service providers and expresses concern over Companies House fees being set at a level that does not burden entrepreneurs while still providing necessary funding for new roles.

Asked about identity verification checks and quality of filings in the newly implemented register of overseas entities, expressing concern over false business registrations.

Inquired about Companies House being properly resourced for its new role and measures on asset freezing and seizing from sanctioned oligarchs to support Ukraine's recovery.

Discussed the framework protecting whistleblowers and called for legislative change in whistleblower protection.

Expressed concerns about the whistleblowing framework and proposals for reforms, engaging in ongoing dialogue on this important issue.

Noted that the Minister has one hour and one minute left to speak before Mr Deputy Speaker takes the Chair.

Interjected to highlight that, despite being ahead in some areas, more needs to be done according to the FATF and IMF, including by the Financial Conduct Authority. Emphasised the need for expanding supervision.

Congratulated the Minister on his first outing.