LONDON: MPs from across the political spectrum have called for action to tackle money laundering, sanctions busting, tax avoidance and tax evasion in the UK’s crown dependencies and overseas territories.
Revelations from the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers investigations into offshore finance were cited extensively during a second reading of the sanctions and anti-money laundering bill, which will replace elements of European legislation after the UK leaves the EU.
The government, however, signalled that it would not force British territories to adopt new transparency measures, despite previous calls by David Cameron for countries around the world to unite in tackling corruption.
Several MPs demanded that British territories – former colonies, some of which have become major tax havens – be forced to publish registers of the beneficial, or true, owners of offshore companies.
The UK introduced its own public register of beneficial company owners in 2016, and has promised to introduce a similar measure for UK property. British crown dependencies and overseas territories, however, are only required to provide information on the true owners of offshore companies to law enforcement, and only if requested.
“Registers must be open – to civil society, the media, journalists, non-governmental organisations – if all the relevant dots are to be joined up, as the release of the Paradise Papers so clearly shows,” said Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative MP and former secretary of state for international development. “With the best will in the world, the regulatory authorities are not in that business, and narrow questions from regulatory authorities simply do not suffice.”
Mitchell said World Bank data showed that more money was stolen from Africa through unpaid taxes or concealment each year than the continent received in overseas aid or foreign investment. “We owe it to the poor of Africa, as well as to our own taxpayers, to take the action we can to bring about an end to this scandal,” he said.
Dame Margaret Hodge, the former chair of parliament’s public accounts committee, said the “constant flow of scandals is strong evidence that the system based on the private automatic exchange of information is not working”.
