The focus of the Bill is very much on tackling the UK and specifically the city of London’s reputation as a haven for money laundering and corruption which includes tax evasion. Apparently the property market in t
he capital is often used as route to launder monies from the proceeds of crime.
The Bill is part of a wider package of measures aimed at having a strong response to money laundering and improving the amount of criminal assets confiscated by the state (and, where possible, returned to victims).
The Bill includes proposals to change the law to introduce new powers which will make it easier for government agencies, such as the police, to recover the proceeds of crime. This means that any such proceeds of crime that are stored in UK bank accounts and high-value items, such as precious metals and jewels will no longer be hidden from detection and seizure.
Anyone who is perceived to have become inexplicably wealthy will also have to explain the sources of their wealth with the introduction of Unexplained Wealth Orders.
Information sharing
The Bill means that information can be shared between regulated companies, which will help ensure that they provide the best possible intelligence for law enforcement agencies to undertake investigations.
New powers will be created to assist those investigations, including a power to extend the moratorium period in which Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)can be investigated and gives the National Crime Agency new powers to request information from regulated companies.
Tax Evasion
The Bill will make it a criminal offence if companies fail to stop their staff facilitating tax evasion. This will hold companies such as firms of accountants, IFAs and business advisers to account for their employees’ actions, ensuring robust global compliance regimes.
It will also permit disclosure orders for money laundering investigations, requiring someone suspected of possessing information relevant to an investigation to provide information. These already exist for corruption and fraud investigations.
Combating the financing of terrorism
Finally the Bill will make complementary changes to the law enforcement and intelligence agency response to the threat of terrorist finance, helping to combat the raising of terrorist funds through vulnerabilities in the regulated sector. This will include mirroring many of the provisions in the bill so that they also apply for investigations into offences under the Terrorism Act 2000.
If you’d like to know more about what’s contained within the Criminal Finances Bill take a look at the .gov website.
