Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions — House of Lords, 2021-04-27
Topic: Law and Crime
Tariq Ahmad (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Collins, and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for their support of the Government’s steps. They will both recall that we have often debated the importance of bringing forward global anti-corruption sanctions. I am pleased that we have been able today to bring forward the first set of such designations. Equally, I am grateful to the noble Lord and the noble Baroness for their support regarding the individuals who have been sanctioned The noble Baroness rightly mentioned Magnitsky, and if one looks back at recent history, through those tragic events we have seen a strengthening of action in this area, not just by the United Kingdom but by other key partners. I am sure that, in the coming months, we will see further evolution of the work we do in this respect. Therefore, the 14 individuals sanctioned, within the Russian scope of the sanctions, are particularly poignant at this moment. On Bill Browder’s work, I fully align myself with the noble Baroness’s remarks The noble Baroness also mentioned the noble Lord, Lord Hain. I pay tribute to his tenacity and persistence in the particular areas and the names that he often raised—such as the Gupta family who have been sanctioned within the South African scope of these sanctions—and I am sure he will be pleased to see that progress has been made The noble Lord, Lord Collins, talked, as did the noble Baroness, of the kind of support the Government are extending in challenging the whole issue of economic crime capacities. Last year’s spending review allocated an additional £63 million for the Home Office to fund the continued expansion of the National Economic Crime Centre and other initiatives. Companies House has also been allocated £20 million to support register reform and transformation work. The Government have further announced proposals for an economic crime levy on firms regulated for money laundering purposes, which we hope will raise up to £100 million per year for money laundering prevention and law enforcement efforts The noble Lord and the noble Baroness both mentioned the agencies that are responsible for the enforcement of sanctions. This includes the NCA and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, which enforces financial sanctions. We should also acknowledge the work of HMRC in enforcing trade sanctions in particular. Let me assure both the noble Lord and the noble Baroness that there are robust mechanisms in place to ensure that sanctions are adhered to. These include financial and custodial penalties and other powers, such as the seizure and forfeiture of goods The noble Lord and the noble Baroness mentioned the importance of law enforcement and due process. Of course, the UK uses sanctions to change unacceptable behaviour, such as constraining and coercing as a means of sending political signals. The purpose of these sanctions is to prevent and combat serious corruption. The Sanctions Act, as the noble Lord and the noble Baroness will recall, contain rigorous due process protections and, in this regard, safeguards as well The noble Lord, Lord Collins, asked about parliamentary scrutiny. Of course, I welcome Members’ interest. There is an important role for your Lordships’ House, as well as for Members of the other place and various committees of the House, in scrutinising UK sanctions. We are open to receiving information and evidence in relation to possible future designations; I am sure that that has been demonstrated from the Government’s actions over the last year or so, since we brought in the global human rights sanctions regime. We have sanctioned over 78 individuals and organisations, and we will continue to remain focused in this respect The noble Lord and the noble Baroness also raised issues around the Russia report. As I have said before from the Dispatch Box, the Government have published their response immediately on publication of the ISC’s Russia report on 21 July 2020. We have taken multiple actions against the Russian threat. We have, for example, already repeatedly exposed the reckless and dangerous activity of Russian intelligence services. We have called out Russia’s malicious cyberactivity, and sanctioned individuals responsible for hostile and malign activity against the UK and our allies. Specifically, we have also introduced a new power in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 to stop individuals at UK ports and the Northern Ireland border area to determine whether they have been involved in hostile state activity As I have said before, we are going further. We are introducing new legislation to provide security services with additional tools to tackle the evolving threat of hostile activity by foreign states, including a complete review of the Official Secrets Act. The Bill will also modernise existing offences to deal more effectively with the espionage threat and create new offences to criminalise other harmful activity conducted by, and on behalf of, states. We have already implemented the NSC-endorsed Russia strategy and established a cross-government Russia unit that brings together our various equities. I note the noble Baroness’s important point about the evolving nature of cryptocurrencies. I think we are all seized by the importance of how this currency is emerging, and issues of the lack of regulation The noble Baroness also raised the issue of the UK overseas territories. Let me assure her that we are working very closely, as we have done previously, with our overseas territories on the importance of transparency and effective access for both tax authorities and crime agencies such as the NCA. We have received very good co-operation already. As the noble Baroness and the noble Lord will be aware, all overseas territories have committed to establishing public registers by 2023 The noble Baroness talked of funding and support through the ODA. We will continue to support the important work of the NCA, in part through the ODA contributions that the noble Baroness referred to. She raised the importance of working with partners, including the European Union. Indeed, when it comes to specific designations in this area of anti-corruption sanctions regimes, just ourselves, the United States and Canada have such regimes. The European Union have some specific regimes for particular countries. However, we will continue to work across the scope, with our colleagues and friends in the European Union, as well as the United States and Canada, in strengthening our work on our sanctions policy to ensure the maximum impact on those who are sanctioned under these different regimes. As we all agree, the best impact is when we work in tandem with our key partners The noble Lord referred to a few additional matters, including ministerial interest. I know that that is due for publication shortly. I am sure that all Members of Her Majesty’s Government who hold ministerial responsibility have duly complied. I am sure that that will be published in the very near future. He raised some specific matters on individuals and Russia. If I may, I will go through the detail of that and respond accordingly to the noble Lord Finally, I am seeking in advance, as I normally do, to arrange an appropriate briefing with some of our key officials. I will certainly seek to convene such a meeting at the earliest opportunity.