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May: crackdown threat on ‘dirty money’ is changing behaviour
Laura Hughes in New York 17 minutes ago
3-4 minutes
Theresa May, UK prime minister, has revealed that the threat of a crackdown on the flow of suspicious Russian money into the UK is already deterring potential criminals and prompting suspects to alter their behaviour in a bid to avoid having their assets frozen.
Mrs May praised preparations to expand the use of unexplained wealth orders, which have struck fear into the Russian expat community, after Britain stepped up its efforts to target wealthy Russians in the wake the Salisbury nerve-agent attack.
Under an UWO, investigators from the National Crime Agency can freeze assets and seize property in the UK unless subjects can explain how they can legitimately have afforded it.
The orders came into force in January but since the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal in February, the government has pledged to increase their use.
The orders are part of Britain’s response to an estimated £90bn of “dirty money” that has flooded through London.
Donald Toon, director of the NCA’s economic crime unit, told the Financial Times this month that his
organisation was looking at sources of wealth from around the world, including “high-value Russian assets” inside the UK.
So far just three orders have been sought by the NCA, but a senior government official confirmed that in the wake of the Salisbury attack, Russians who face a possible investigation under an UWO have been quick to get their affairs in order so they are on the right side of the law.
“In relation to other action, of course, the National Crime Agency has been taking strong action against any illicit financial activity they see,” said Mrs May as she travelled to the UN General Assembly in New York.
“They have been seeing in some areas some change of behaviour in people. For example, just the unexplained wealth orders, just having those has meant that some people have changed their behaviour and are now playing by the rules,” she added.
“You want to see the impact of them, so it’s not just about getting an unexplained wealth order in place, it’s actually just the fact of having that possibility. If that changes people’s behaviour, such as they then play by the rules and regulations, it’s actually had an impact.”
The Home Office is also reviewing Russians who have secured so-called tier-one visas in order to settle in the UK. To qualify for a tier-one visa, applicants have to show they have at least £2m to invest in Britain.
Mrs May declined to set out what the review might conclude, saying: “It’s to make sure that actually the visa system there is doing the job it’s intended to and that people aren’t able in some sense to play the system.”
Following the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter on British soil, the government has faced calls to target wealthy Russians who have flaunted their wealth in Britain and who allegedly relied on President Vladimir Putin’s patronage to maintain their positions.
