[Open Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Society_Foundations) are embarking on a programme of supporting initiatives to combat the UK’s “dirty money problem”, opportunistically seizing a rare moment of public awareness after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine led to repudiation of Russian dirty money nestling in the UK property market and other oligarch-friendly havens.
They are targeting the government’s
> Economic Crimes legislation, which had been promised but not delivered for over five years. This included creating a registry of foreign-owned property in the UK, reforms of the way Unexplained Wealth Orders are used to require entities to clarify the source of their funds, and improvement to the targeted sanctions regime.
> But other important elements that advocacy groups are urging were left out—including moves to reform the agencies tasked with combating money laundering and to give outmatched enforcement agencies the resources they need to investigate and prosecute often complex structures designed to hide wealth.
> Much remains to be decided when a second round of the legislation is presented in a new session of Parliament in the autumn, and in related government policy reviews slated for the coming year. This includes the possibility of holding companies who knowingly enable money laundering—and their executives—criminally responsible for their actions, and ensuring that Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies follow through on commitments to unmask the true owners of shell companies registered there. A host of other reforms are needed—to curb legal intimidation by rich kleptocrats, protect whistleblowers, and more.
This is significant because enormous sums [are routed](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/02/owgy-m02.html) “through these tax havens that offer their owners both anonymity and tax-free status. The money is then funneled through to businesses and banks in the City of London that then pay little or no tax on their operations, while at the same time underpinning London’s position as a major financial centre as it laundered the world’s dirty money.”
> Countries are losing a total of $483 billion in tax a year to global tax abuse committed by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals . . . a small club of rich countries with de facto control over global tax rules is responsible for the majority of tax losses
with the UK together with its network of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies being the biggest single offender, at an estimated 39.2% of all tax losses suffered by countries around the world.
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[Open Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Society_Foundations) are embarking on a programme of supporting initiatives to combat the UK’s “dirty money problem”, opportunistically seizing a rare moment of public awareness after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine led to repudiation of Russian dirty money nestling in the UK property market and other oligarch-friendly havens.
They are targeting the government’s
> Economic Crimes legislation, which had been promised but not delivered for over five years. This included creating a registry of foreign-owned property in the UK, reforms of the way Unexplained Wealth Orders are used to require entities to clarify the source of their funds, and improvement to the targeted sanctions regime.
> But other important elements that advocacy groups are urging were left out—including moves to reform the agencies tasked with combating money laundering and to give outmatched enforcement agencies the resources they need to investigate and prosecute often complex structures designed to hide wealth.
> Much remains to be decided when a second round of the legislation is presented in a new session of Parliament in the autumn, and in related government policy reviews slated for the coming year. This includes the possibility of holding companies who knowingly enable money laundering—and their executives—criminally responsible for their actions, and ensuring that Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies follow through on commitments to unmask the true owners of shell companies registered there. A host of other reforms are needed—to curb legal intimidation by rich kleptocrats, protect whistleblowers, and more.
It’s not widely appreciated, but the “tax haven” Territories and Crown dependencies are effectively under the legislative control of the UK’s government if it should so choose, as exposed recently in discussions of the UK establishing [direct rule over the British Virgin Isles](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9538/) in the wake of an inquiry concluding the existing local government was [wholly corrupt (PDF)](https://bvi.gov.vg/sites/default/files/resources/coi_report_print_version.pdf), and the [arrest of the territory’s premier](https://np.reddit.com/r/NarcoFootage/comments/uf1fx4/british_virgin_islands_premier_andrew_fahie_and/) in relation to trafficking several tonnes of cocaine.
This is significant because enormous sums [are routed](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/05/02/owgy-m02.html) “through these tax havens that offer their owners both anonymity and tax-free status. The money is then funneled through to businesses and banks in the City of London that then pay little or no tax on their operations, while at the same time underpinning London’s position as a major financial centre as it laundered the world’s dirty money.”
According to [*State of Tax Justice 2021*](https://taxjustice.net/reports/the-state-of-tax-justice-2021/):
> Countries are losing a total of $483 billion in tax a year to global tax abuse committed by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals . . . a small club of rich countries with de facto control over global tax rules is responsible for the majority of tax losses
with the UK together with its network of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies being the biggest single offender, at an estimated 39.2% of all tax losses suffered by countries around the world.
I presume you are referring to parliament