Key Facts

• £63 million allocated by the Treasury so far for Companies House transformation.
• Martin Swain has responsibility for policy, strategy and communications at Companies House.
• Adrian Searle is director of the National Economic Crime Centre and a director within the National Crime Agency.
• Companies House is transforming into an active gatekeeper of company information.
• There is a balance between enhancing transparency and not creating undue burdens on businesses.
• The Economic Crime Bill will grant Companies House powers to query and proactively share information with law enforcement.
• The Bill introduces measures around ACSPs that do not currently exist.
• ACSPs will need to register with the agency before filing, and their identities will be verified.
• There are new offences for failing to maintain records of AML supervision or suspensions.
• Adrian Searle mentions a 50% asset recovery incentivisation scheme (ARIS) for successful litigation by agencies like the NCA.
• Christopher Chope chairs the examination of witnesses.
• Commander Nik Adams is from the City of London police and leads on economic and cyber-crime.
• Simon Welch represents the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the economic crime portfolio.
• Michelle Crotty is the chief capability officer at the Serious Fraud Office.
• Money laundering prosecutions have dropped by 35% over the last five years in the UK.
• The number of crimes under investigation has halved in the past three years.
• Convictions for fraud offences have decreased by 67% since 2011.
• About 70% of all fraud emanates from overseas.
• Banks prevent around 65p in every pound of unauthorised payment fraud.
• Proactive economic crime teams will be built in every regional organised crime unit by the end of this year.
• Pre-investigation powers for fraud and domestic-based issues are being extended to enable quicker identification of cases.
• The UK currently has one of the lowest prices for registering a company at £12.50.
• There are approximately 1,500 companies registered every day in the UK.
• Commanders suggest increasing registration fees to improve verification processes and resource allocation.
• Nine out of twelve deferred prosecution agreements have involved a failure to prevent bribery offence since 2010.
• Companies focus on putting adequate procedures in place due to the defence provided by such laws.
• The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) can retain up to £900,000 in legal costs annually if they win cases.
• Christopher Chope thanked Dr Susan Hawley, John Cusack, and Thom Townsend for their testimony.
• Dr Susan Hawley introduced herself as the executive director of Spotlight on Corruption.
• Thom Townsend is the executive director of Open Ownership and incoming chair of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition.
• Countries with national ID card systems have effective corporate ownership verification.
• The current identity verification programme by the UK Government has had mixed results.
• There are serious questions about HMRC's supervision of TCSPs due to low fine levels and high case return rates.
• Countries with national identity card systems have been able to progress faster.
• The registrar's ability to carry out analysis is dependent on funding and diligence.
• Only one fine has been issued since changes to the persons with significant control regime, valued at £210.
• The US-style system of civil recovery works well for enforcing economic crime.
• Law enforcement brought in £3.9 billion over the last six years in the UK.
• OPBAS could name and shame supervisors who are not performing across sectors like HMRC and the FCA.
• The information-sharing provision currently requires a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) before private information sharing can take place.
• Italy seizes almost £10 billion annually in asset confiscations compared to the UK's underperformance.
• SMEs lack resources and must rely on Companies House, unlike larger companies which do their own intelligence gathering.
• Bill Browder is the head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.
• Sergei Magnitsky was murdered after exposing $230 million in fraudulent activity.
• The UK has never opened a criminal investigation into the money laundering connected to Sergei Magnitsky's case, unlike other countries.
• Vladimir Putin and his associates have stolen $1 trillion from Russian people since 2000.
• No money laundering prosecution has come out of Russia in 22 years.
• The cost of fraud to the UK economy is estimated at approximately £130 billion.
• The estimated annual amount laundered through the City of London is hundreds of billions of pounds.
• Funding per officer at the National Crime Agency is one third of their counterparts at the FBI.
• The current laws are well-written but poorly enforced.
• Foreign bank accounts set up by UK companies appear legitimate and help criminals evade detection.
• Disclosing foreign bank account locations annually would assist in identifying suspicious activities.
• The Bill mentioned includes unexplained wealth orders.
• Unexplained wealth orders were a great idea but have not been used due to lack of funding for the National Crime Agency.
• Bullough has been advocating about problems with Companies House for a long time.
• Bill Browder mentions the practice of registering drunk Latvian individuals as directors of hundreds of companies.
• Oliver Bullough suggests lowering the threshold for declaring control over a company from the current 25% down to 10% or even 5%.
• The number of people with overseas addresses owning property in the UK has increased by 250% over the last decade.
• Christopher Chope is chairing a session under Public Bill Committee rules.
• Professor John Heathershaw and Thomas Mayne are providing evidence.
• Thomas Mayne authored a report titled “The UK’s kleptocracy problem” at Chatham House.
• The discussion centres on potential risks of assets moving to unregulated sectors like crypto or other jurisdictions.
• Registration of overseas entities as part of previous Acts will come into effect by January, revealing ownership details of properties known to be owned by oligarchs or kleptocrats.
• Professor Heathershaw's research indicates that the enforcement gap allows incumbents in power to retain their assets while exiles lose theirs due to lack of transparency and proper rule of law.
• The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is under discussion.
• Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) measures are proposed to protect transparency efforts.
• Journalists and think-tanks face legal threats that deter corporate transparency.
• The session on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill concludes.
• Christopher Chope notes that under Committee rules, the meeting must end at a specified time.
• ECCTB01 refers to the insolvency and restructuring trade body.
• ECCTB02 mentions Encompass Corporation.
• ECCTB03 refers to the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA).