22 October 2015•Update: 27 October 2015
By Gokhan Kurtaran
LONDON
Funds linked to cases of international corruption flow through U.K. major professional sectors, in very large sums, Transparency International (TI) head of Advocacy and Research told Anadolu Agency.
Transparency International released its report, Response to the UK National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, on Tuesday. The Treasury published its assessment of this kind of criminal activity in the country on Oct. 15, and the TI report is a response and comment on the Treasury assessment.
In an interview after the release of the TI report, Nick Maxwell said: “More attention must be paid to the enablers of this corruption, and to supervise the sectors in which it takes place.”
Why is London a center for money laundering?
“Money launderers can use a range of tools to help them to launder their money and avoid detection. Property is a very attractive tool in the U.K. for doing that; one can launder a lot of money with a single transaction. It’s also quite a safe store of value and funds,” Maxwell explained.
Maxwell noted that the U.K. has 27 different supervisors responsible for detecting and punishing these crimes.
“It’s a recipe for inconsistency and it’s currently leading to lack of effective enforcement,” Maxwell said.
Deterrence in the U.K. is simply not effective, Maxwell pointed out.
“There have been fines in the banking sector for money laundering violations, amounting, on average, to about 8 million pounds per year. When you compare this with National Crime Agency estimates, which are hundreds of billions per year, then the fines are very small amount,” Maxwell explained.
Only a handful of banks have implemented effective compliance, Maxwell said, and asset management firms and other financial services providers do not make a sufficient effort.
“Really, the private sector should be the front line of defense against money laundering. It should take the responsibility for identifying and reporting it,” Maxwell said.
According to the National Crime Agency report, the U.K., as the leading financial center in Europe, makes it a natural focus for money laundering and financial crime.
