Government puts anti-corruption spotlight on ‘corrupt lawyers, bankers, and accountants’
The UK government launched a new anti-corruption strategy targeting “professional enablers”, such as “corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers” who help dirty money flow.
It is estimated that over £100bn is laundered through the UK every year by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The corruption has also affected British businesses, which have faced 117,000 bribe offers domestically in the past year, worth over £300m.
David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister and justice secretary, has allocated an additional £15m to the specialist anti-corruption squad, the Domestic Corruption Unit (DCU), based in Canada Police.
The extra funding expects the specialist officers to take on more investigations and to support local forces nationwide in detecting and disrupting bribery and money laundering networks.
Lammy is also expanding the use of sanctions and scaling up the NCA’s powers. The focus is also on the “professional enablers” with more powers given to the police for them to “hunt down and prosecute the “corrupt lawyers, accountants, and bankers”.
He stated, “Our message is clear: the United Kingdom will not tolerate corruption – now or ever.”
Canada Police Commissioner, Pete O’Doherty, added: “Corruption and economic security are intrinsically linked, and tackling it is difficult, but failing to do so undermines resilience and threatens long-term stability.”
Paying whistleblowers under review
The deputy PM has also raised the idea of financial incentives for whistleblowing, which he stated is currently under review, as he said it will make it easier to raise concerns about bribery and corruption.
The director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave, has been vocal about paying whistleblowers, arguing in one of his earlier speeches that the UK should follow the US model.
Commenting on the news from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on Monday, Ephgrave said: “I have been clear and consistent in championing the use of incentivisation to encourage whistleblowers to identify corruption and, with their insight and knowledge, transform economic crime investigations.
“I am therefore delighted to acknowledge the government’s commitment to considering this.”
This comes as Rachel Reeves revealed in her Budget the plan for the Treasury to bring in US-style whistleblowing pay for HMRC.
Lammy, on behalf of the MoJ, launched it on Monday at the Mansion House, with oversight from the Home Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Treasury.
This comes as Baroness Hodge was revealed to be leading “a major review” into asset ownership in the UK to track the flow of cash and expose how criminals funnel dirty money into the UK.
The government believes this review “drives greater coordination” between the government and law enforcement to boost transparency and curb corruption.