Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-05-01
Topic: Law and Crime
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 1—Scottish Limited Partnerships: partner requirement— "(1) For the purposes of preventing money laundering, where a limited partnership registered in Scotland has general partners at least one of those must be a British citizen (2) Where a limited partnership registered in Scotland has limited partners at least one of those must be a British citizen (3) In this section— a "limited partnership registered in Scotland" means a partnership registered under the Limited Partnerships Act 1907; "British citizen" has the meaning given in part 1 of the British Nationality Act 1981 "general partner" has the meaning given in section 4(2) of the Limited Partnership Act 1907; "limited partner" has the meaning given in section 4(2A) of the Limited Partnership Act 1907" New clause 6—Public registers of beneficial ownership of companies registered in British Overseas Territories— "(1) For the purposes of the detection, investigation or prevention of money laundering, the Secretary of State must provide all reasonable assistance to the governments of the British Overseas Territories to enable each of those governments to establish a publicly accessible register of the beneficial ownership of companies registered in each government’s jurisdiction (2) The Secretary of State must, no later than 31 December 2020, prepare a draft Order in Council requiring the government of any British Overseas Territory that has not introduced a publicly accessible register of the beneficial ownership of companies within its jurisdiction to do so (3) The draft Order in Council under subsection (2) must set out the form that the register must take (4) If an Order in Council contains requirements of a kind mentioned in subsection (2)— (a) it must be laid before Parliament after being made, and (b) if not approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament before the end of 28 days beginning with the day on which it is made, it ceases to have effect at the end of that period (but without that affecting the power to make a new Order under this section) (5) In calculating a period of 28 days for the purposes of subsection (4), no account is to be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days (6) For the purposes of this section, "British Overseas Territories" means a territory listed in Schedule 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981 (7) For the purposes of this section, "a publicly accessible register of the beneficial ownership of companies" means a register which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, provides information broadly equivalent to that available in accordance with the provisions of Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006." This new clause would require the Secretary of State to take steps to provide that British Overseas Territories establish publicly accessible registers of the beneficial ownership of companies. New clause 14—Public registers of beneficial ownership of companies in the Crown Dependencies— "(1) For the purpose of preventing money laundering, the Secretary of State must provide all reasonable assistance to the governments of the Crown Dependencies to enable each of those governments to establish a publicly accessible register of the beneficial ownership of companies registered in that government’s jurisdiction (2) The Secretary of State must, by the deadline set for the implementation of the European Union’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, prepare a draft Order in Council requiring the government of any Crown Dependency that has not introduced a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership of companies within their jurisdiction to do so (3) The draft Order in Council under subsection (2)— (a) must be laid before Parliament after being made, and (b) if not approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament before the end of the 28 days beginning with the day on which it is made, ceases to have effect at the end of that period (but without that affecting the power to make a new Order) (4) In calculating a period of 28 days for the purposes of subsection (4), no account is to be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than 4 days (5) For the purposes of this section, a "publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership of companies" means a register which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, provides information broadly equivalent to that available in accordance with the provisions of Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006 (information about people with significant control) (6) For the purposes of this section, "Crown Dependency" means— (a) any of the Channel Islands; (b) the Isle of Man." New clause 19—Scottish Limited Partnerships: UK bank account requirement— "(1) For the purposes of preventing money laundering, where a limited partnership registered in Scotland has general partners at least one of those must have an active UK bank account (2) Where a limited partnership registered in Scotland has limited partners at least one of those must have an active UK bank account (3) In this section— a "limited partnership registered in Scotland" means a partnership registered under the Limited Partnerships Act 1907; "general partner" has the meaning given in section 4(2) of the Limited Partnership Act 1907; "limited partner" has the meaning given in section 4(2A) of the Limited Partnership Act 1907." Government amendments 10 to 12 Amendment 32, in clause 1, page 2, line 17, at end insert— "(i) further accountability for, or act as a deterrent to, the commission of a gross human rights abuse or violation." This amendment would enable sanctions to be made for the purpose of preventing, or in response to, a gross human rights abuse or violation. Amendment 33, page 2, line 35, at end insert— "(5A) In this section, conduct constitutes "the commission of a gross human rights abuse or violation" if each of the following three conditions is met (5B) The first condition is that— (a) the conduct constitutes the torture of a person who has sought— (i) to expose illegal activity carried out by a public official or a person acting in an official capacity, or (ii) to obtain, exercise, defend or promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, or (b) the conduct otherwise involves the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of such a person (5C) The second condition is that the conduct is carried out in consequence of that person having sought to do anything falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) (5D) The third condition is that the conduct is carried out— (a) by a public official, or a person acting in an official capacity, in the performance or purported performance of his or her official duties, or (b) by a person not falling within paragraph (a) at the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence— (i) of a public official, or (ii) of a person acting in an official capacity, who in instigating the conduct, or in consenting to or acquiescing in it, is acting in the performance or purported performance of his or her official duties (5E) Conduct that involves the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering on another person is conduct that constitutes torture for the purposes of subsection (2)(a) (5F) It is immaterial whether the pain or suffering is physical or mental and whether it is caused by an act or omission" This amendment, which is consequential on Amendment 32, would define what constitutes the commission of a gross human rights abuse or violation. The commission of a gross human rights abuse or violation would include the torture of a person who had sought to expose the illegal activity of a public official, or the torture of a person who had sought to defend human rights or fundamental freedoms, by a public official or a person acting in an official capacity. Government amendments 13 to 17 Amendment 20, in clause 56, page 43, line 7, after first "1", insert ", section (Public registers of beneficial ownership of companies registered in British Overseas Territories)" This amendment is consequential on NC6. Government amendment 18 Amendment 31, in title, line 5 after "objectives", insert "or to further accountability for, or act as a deterrent to, the commission of a gross human rights abuse or violation" This amendment to the long title would be consequential on Amendment 32.