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Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions
26 April 2021
Lead MP
Dominic Raab
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
Crime & Law EnforcementEconomyForeign AffairsBenefits & WelfareStandards & Ethics
Other Contributors: 18
At a Glance
Dominic Raab raised concerns about global anti-corruption sanctions in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
Crime & Law EnforcementEconomyForeign AffairsBenefits & WelfareStandards & Ethics
Government Statement
Corruption has a significant detrimental impact on the rule of law, trust in institutions, development, and poverty alleviation. The UK will combat corruption by implementing new sanctions regulations to prevent corrupt actors from using British banks or businesses for money laundering. Key achievements include over £1 billion in asset recovery since 2006, 4.5 million companies listed on the public register of beneficial owners, and a rise in the Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index ranking from 20th to 11th place between 2010 and 2020. The new sanctions regime will target individuals and organisations involved in serious corruption with asset freezes and travel bans, enabling designations based on evidence of bribery and misappropriation of property. Today's first designations include those implicated in the $230 million tax fraud in Russia, South African Gupta brothers' corrupt dealings, drug trafficking facilitators from Central America, and Sudanese businessman Ashraf Seed Ahmed Hussein Ali for significant asset diversion.
Rushanara Ali
Lab
Bethnal Green and Bow
Question
How will the new sanctions target corrupt elites who have links to British banks and companies, considering the complex nature of modern corruption schemes?
Minister reply
The regulations allow us to designate individuals involved in serious corruption with asset freezes and travel bans. They are intended to prevent corrupt actors from using the UK as a haven for dirty money and will be most effective when backed by coordinated international action.
David Doherty
Con
Hereford and South Herefordshire
Question
Does the Minister agree that it is important to establish more local-level support, such as in his constituency, for people who are victims of corruption?
Minister reply
We have a strong track record on tackling financial crime through our law enforcement agencies and the National Crime Agency. We will continue to provide funding for this vital work.
Ged Killen
SNP
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
Question
Given that corruption has an impact on health care worldwide, can the UK Government take further action in conjunction with international partners to address this issue?
Minister reply
The new sanctions regime complements our existing measures such as unexplained wealth orders and account freezing orders. We will continue to work with international partners like the US and Canada to tackle corruption.
Lisa Nandy
Lab
Wigan
Question
Welcomed today’s announcement but expressed concerns about the low rate of prosecutions for economic crime and the need for resources to support investigations. Criticised the integrity of the UK's political system, citing examples involving Saudi Arabia and China.
Minister reply
Acknowledged the shadow minister’s points on international corruption and welcomed her support for both the legal regime and designations. Stressed that criminal prosecutions differ from sanctions in terms of evidence gathering and proof standards. Rejected claims of political influence undermining robust approaches to sanctioning, citing existing sanctions against Saudi officials involved in Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Addressed actions taken on Russia, including legislative measures and establishment of the cross-Government Russia unit.
Thomas Tugendhat
Con
Tonbridge
Question
Congratulated the Foreign Secretary on his support for making corruption part of the sanctions regime. Highlighted the need to address enablers in the UK, and called for wider designations targeting China, Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and others.
Minister reply
Paid tribute to the MP's Committee for campaigning passionately and providing evidence. Stated that future designations will be considered based on all available evidence, whether open source or provided by Committees.
Chris Law
SNP
Dundee Central
Question
I welcome the initiative but criticises the reduction in aid to combat corruption. He asks how cutting aid helps rather than hinders the sanctions regime and what impact assessment has been made.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary thanks for his support, confirms that £10 billion is safeguarded this year, and emphasises that one of the seven priorities is open societies which includes media freedom campaign. The Government has already imposed Magnitsky sanctions on those responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Alicia Kearns
Con
Rutland and Stamford
Question
Welcomes the extensions to the sanctions regime and asks if further sanctions will be escalated against dirty-money oligarchs if they do not result in Alexei Navalny's release for medical treatment.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary joins his friend in paying tribute to Bill Browder, confirms that six individuals have been sanctioned in relation to Navalny’s poisoning, and 14 Russians named under the new corruption regime.
Layla Moran
Lib Dem
Oxford West and Abingdon
Question
Asks if the Culture Secretary will be tasked with investigating money in football with ties to corruption and human rights abuses, following the European super league debacle.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary shares her concern about the football episode but confirms that the owner of a club has been described as one of the key enablers of Putin's corrupt regime.
Question
Asks if these new sanctions will work in conjunction with other measures to tackle global corruption, including spending more on open societies and resolving overseas conflicts.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary confirms that £419 million is going into the open societies agenda but cannot specify allocation country by country.
Question
Welcomes the extension of human rights sanctions to include corruption and asks if he will be able to go further in designating more people and following the money.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary confirms that he wants to make sure the regime is legally robust, but he will continue to listen carefully on this subject.
Question
Welcomes today's announcement but asks if these sanctions apply equally to all individuals and whether they will address tax havens such as the Cayman Islands.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary agrees that the Cayman Islands enables tax abuse, and nothing will stop further measures being taken.
Nusrat Ghani
Con
Sussex Weald
Question
Congratulates on upgrading Magnitsky sanctions to include corruption and asks if these new sanctions apply equally to senior officials in the Chinese Communist party involved with Uyghur abuses.
Minister reply
The Foreign Secretary confirms that they want to be able to apply all tools at the most senior level, but challenges are that higher up the chain we go, the more indirect the links and evidence is needed.
Peter Grant
Lab
Greenwich and Woolwich
Question
The Secretary of State mentioned Transparency International in his statement. Last year, it said that it had identified more than £5 billion of property in the UK bought with suspicious money, one fifth of which came from Russia, and half of all the money laundered out of Russia is laundered through the United Kingdom. So does he not agree that any action taken by the UK to tackle global corruption will lack credibility until the United Kingdom Government have put their own house in order by implementing in full the recommendations of last year’s Intelligence and Security Committee report, including the tightening of rules on all political donations from Russia?
Minister reply
I think I have already addressed the second part of the hon. Gentleman’s question. On the first part, in relation to Transparency International, the United Kingdom is of course an open, outward-looking country. We want to attract direct investment, which is why, as I said in my statement, we need to be on the lookout and be eternally vigilant to make sure that dirty money or blood money does not drift into this country. We are taking these actions today precisely because we are serious about this issue. If he looks at this fairly, he will see that when we came into office in 2010, the UK was ranked 20th in the world on the corruption perceptions index. We have now risen to 11th, and we will keep taking action until we are even higher up the rankings.
Marcus Fysh
Con
Yeovil
Question
I welcome the statement and the extension of sanctions. Corruption really eats away at the prospects of people in the developing world and gives them less confidence in the future and in their elected officials. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to see whether there are ways in which we can innovate to ensure that, for example, development aid money goes to people more directly, to provide the social development opportunities that can otherwise be diverted by corrupt officials?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We give an increasing proportion of our aid to operate in countries via third parties, whether they are NGOs or other partners, rather than direct to Governments. There is a case for both, for all the reasons that my hon. Friend suggested, and I totally agree with him that the approach to official development assistance should complement and supplement what we are doing in the law enforcement space, including through these sanctions. I would be interested to hear any ideas he has for fusing the two and making them even stronger, and Ministers would be keen to meet him.
Tony Lloyd
Lab
Manchester Central
Question
I congratulate the Foreign Secretary on the statement, which is an important step forward. In respect of Belarus, where the President is propped up by senior people in the military and the police complex, will the Foreign Secretary work with other interested countries—not only Belarus’s neighbours but those throughout Europe—so that we are prepared to look at the evidential trail more broadly than just what our own investigatory authorities can determine? That could make a material difference in challenging the Lukashenko regime.
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We very much led the way in relation to Belarus and the human rights sanctions regime—the Magnitsky sanctions—and instituted human rights sanctions before the EU, but we were in constant dialogue with the EU about the names, evidence and individuals. It is important to have that systematic approach, partly to have more effect but also to be on surer ground when sanctions are imposed. Belarus is also a good example, raised by Members from all parties, of where, at the same time as we have imposed sanctions, we have provided extra support for civil society, including opposition groups, not directly but through NGOs, journalists and the support for the media and the open society agenda that we have been talking about as part of the integrated review.
Nigel Mills
Con
Amber Valley
Question
I warmly welcome the statement and the measures announced. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that there is a need to update the international rules and action to ensure that all the progress we have made on tackling money laundering and the hiding of stolen money is not undermined by the use of crypto-assets such as crypto-currencies, which are much harder to track as they move around the world?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right: we need some international co-ordination. It works better as co-ordination rather than supranational institutions, because we want to retain some flexibility, and that has often been quite effective. On the corruption sanctions regime, we already co-operate with the US and Canada, as we did on the list of names we have designated today, and Australia is in the midst of considering a Magnitsky regime on human rights that may, in due course, extend to corruption. The EU followed the UK lead in enacting a global human rights sanctions regime, but it has not yet introduced powers for an equivalent corruptions regime, so we are ahead of the pack on all this. My hon. Friend raises the important point that this is about not just what we do individually, but our convening power and our ability to be a force for good, working with others including the EU, the US, Canada and Australia.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
May I, too, thank the Foreign Secretary for his commitment and personal determination? Having seen the effect of Libyan sanctions for those Americans and Germans affected by terrorism, in comparison to what has been secured for victims of IRA terrorism working hand in hand with Gaddafi, I believe it is past time that these sanctions are in place. What assurance will the Foreign Secretary give to the British people that the Government are now in a position to impose sanctions and that the people affected can be beneficiaries? What consideration has been given to the widespread use of these sanctions in areas such as those involved in atrocities against the Uyghurs, the Christians, the Falun Gong and the Tibetan Buddhists in China to ensure that businesses as well as Governments will feel the brunt, the pain and the impact of these sanctions?
Minister reply
I thank the hon. Gentleman. I share his determination to tackle this in relation to some of the groups he refers to. He will know that we have taken action, in particular in relation to the persecution of the Uyghur Muslims and the use of forced labour. In relation to others—he mentions Libya and others—I cannot speculate in advance. What I can tell him is that we have the legal framework now. We have also set out a policy note—he will be able to look at that and feel free to come back and ask me further questions—which will give him a sense of how we will determine the criteria. It is evidence-driven. That is often the hardest part, but again it comes back to the point about the importance of co-ordinating with our international partners, sharing evidence and sharing our assessment of individuals and countries where we can act.
Shadow Comment
Lisa Nandy
Shadow Comment
While welcoming the new anti-corruption sanctions regime, Labour urges the Government to ensure adequate resources for investigations and enforcement. Criticises low rate of prosecutions for economic crime and calls for parliamentary scrutiny over designations to prevent big money from influencing political decisions. Questions the credibility of the UK's stance on human rights abusers given recent revelations about financial interests at the heart of government.
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