Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions — House of Lords, 2021-04-27
Topic: International Affairs
Lindsay Granshaw (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I too thank the Minister for bringing us this Statement. I welcome the introduction of this new sanctions regime and pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of Sergei Magnitsky, after whom these sanctions are named. I also pay tribute to Bill Browder, who is not resting until liberal democracies put these into place, whatever the clear risks to himself As the Statement says, corruption has an extremely "corrosive effect". It undermines development and traps the poorest in poverty; we have all seen extensive evidence of that. I am glad to see sanctions on the 14 individuals involved in the tax fraud in Russia that Magnitsky uncovered. Surely, though, we need to sanction those at the very highest levels in Russia, who have raided its economy to create their extraordinary wealth while most Russians live in poverty. I am pleased to see the sanctions on the Guptas in South Africa, and I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Hain, will be very pleased—he has fought a doughty campaign against them It is clearly vital that we work with others if these sanctions are to be most effective. We had been working on this area with our EU partners before we left the EU, so I ask: what progress is being made in this regard given our departure and, therefore, the reduction of our influence within our continent The Statement notes that the UK is a leading "financial centre", and we certainly hope that this will continue, but that means that there is a risk of money laundering here. Last year, Transparency International 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; in its view, half of all the money laundered out of Russia is laundered through the United Kingdom. What of the Russia report and political donations, as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, has just mentioned? Much more clearly needs to be done here The Statement notes the UK’s public register of "beneficial owners", but does not address the situation in the overseas territories or the Crown dependencies. Can the Minister comment on the vital need for progress here? Efforts will also need to be made to ensure that cryptocurrencies are not a new route to hide corruption—could he comment on this? Does he agree that it would make sense if the Government set up an independent commission to consider where and against whom sanctions should be used? This would be less likely to be swayed by the political considerations of any Government and to be fair, effective and transparent Talking of transparency, the Government need to make much progress themselves in relation to donations and influence. The Statement notes the importance of the National Crime Agency’s international corruption unit and its predecessors, and that the NCA has, over the last 15 years, stopped £1 billion from going astray. Although I am glad to hear that, does the Minister agree that this is a paltry sum when we consider the funds washing around corruptly I am not overly impressed by the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre in London, which has helped to freeze only about £300 million of suspected corrupt assets worldwide. In 2017 alone, the then head of the Angolan sovereign wealth fund channelled £500 million through London, which was intercepted and returned to Angola, with the head being held to account. These figures therefore indicate that we are simply scratching the surface. The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, whose work in this area is hugely to be welcomed, is surely right when it says that the Government must ensure that corruption and human rights sanctions regimes are "properly resourced", including by providing significant additional resources in this area This brings me to my last point. I trust that the Minister is aware—I am sure he is—that ODA funding has gone into supporting such work. Can he tell us whether it will be affected by the ODA cuts? The Statement says that the department "continues to provide funding", but does not say if this will now be reduced. The integrated review has been undermined by the actions of the Government, particularly through their cuts to ODA. Are we in the same situation here? We clearly need to beef up enforcement agencies, not cut them back. Which are the Government doing?