The National Crime Agency is ratcheting up its focus on targeting Russians with suspicious wealth as part of the UK’s response to clear the £90bn tide of “dirty money” flooding into London.
Donald Toon, director of the NCA’s economic crime unit, said it was preparing to expand the use of unexplained wealth orders, which have struck fear into the Russian expat community, to freeze assets in the UK. The court-approved tool allows investigators to seize property unless subjects can explain how they legitimately afford it.
“Are we looking at potential Russian targets? Of course we are,” Mr Toon told the Financial Times. “We are looking at high-value Russian assets inside the UK . . . and whether or not we can be in a position to go to the courts and raise sufficient concern to obtain an unexplained wealth order on those assets.”
He added that the NCA was also looking at sources of wealth “from a wide range of other parts of the world”, such as former Soviet Union republics as well as Africa and Asia.
Mr Toon also warned lawyers, accountants and other “professional enablers” of financial crime, saying they would be expected to file far more reports to the NCA flagging suspicious transactions. The NCA estimates that roughly £90bn a year of ill-gotten gains washes through the City of London.
“Do we have concerns about the effectiveness of . . . customer due diligence in parts of the legal profession and the accountancy sector? Yes, we certainly do,” he said, adding they were “closer to the customer” and “in a better position”.
The move is part of the government’s attempt to end London’s reputation as a magnet for dirty money from Moscow and beyond.
Although there have been various attempts to address financial crime over the past eight years, the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March has given the attempt fresh impetus as a way to cripple Russian money flows.
Since the nerve agent attack, the government has pledged to use more UWOs, which came into force in January. Boris Johnson, then foreign secretary, advocated their use as a way of targeting Russian money — a theme echoed by Ben Wallace, security minister, last week. While still part of the EU, the UK cannot unilaterally impose financial sanctions beyond suspected terrorist-related activity.
But there is scant use of UWOs, which can be used to target politicians and well-connected officials outside Europe and their families, or those suspected of organised crime. Just three have been filed by the NCA, with a court decision expected over the next few weeks, and none of the three are against Russians. All three turn on the same test case, involving the high-rolling wife of a banker from the former Soviet Union, who is not Russian.
