According to a report by anti-corruption campaigners Transparency International published on Tuesday (February 7), at least 52,000 properties in the United Kingdom are owned by anonymous investors including some “close to the Kremlin”. This comes despite the British government’s crackdown last year on Russian money which came from shell companies, tax havens, and opaque ownership structures, which were a part of the broader economic sanctions which were imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
The report shows that the total value of all properties put together is more than $8 billion which also includes luxury real estate in London. Additionally, they are also purchased with “suspect funds” via “secretive offshore companies”, the report by Transparency International UK claims. More than 18,000 offshore companies together hold almost 52,000 properties in England and Wales.
It added, that these companies have either “ignored the law altogether or submitted information which makes it impossible for the public to find out who owns them. This includes firms reportedly owned by kleptocrats, oligarchs and individuals subject to sanctions”. Additionally, the report also alleges that more than a fifth of the aforementioned total amount invested into the properties were “suspect funds” from Russia from those who are sanctioned and “close to the Kremlin”.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the British government in August launched the “Register of Overseas Entities” (ROE) which requires foreign companies to declare the ultimate beneficiary of any property owned in the UK. The findings of the report anti-corruption campaigners published are partly based on an analysis of the ROE database which comprises details of the real owners of offshore firms that hold UK property. They also noted that at least half of the 32,440 companies required to declare their ownership have failed to do so.
Another loophole that the report noted was how such companies file information which claims to have no beneficial owners which at least 12 per cent of the firms in question have done, “an issue we previously identified as a potential loophole that would allow offshore companies to sidestep the rules,” said the UK-based organisation.
“Transparency over who really owns property here is vital to addressing Britain’s role as a global hub for dirty money,” said Duncan Hames, the group’s policy director, as per AFP. He added, “Our analysis reveals there are far too many companies that could be trying to skirt the rules, not knowing they exist, or ignoring them altogether.” Therefore, Transparency International also called for more government action to “to close loopholes in the law” and active enforcement of reform aimed at providing fewer places for corrupt wealth to hide.
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