London 'a haven' for money launderers
Failure to regulate operators of "shell companies" that allow criminals to hide ill-gotten assets is making London a haven for money-launderers, an influential report will warn on Friday..
Many offshore jurisdictions have already clamped down on anonymous corporate entities and trusts that can be used as vehicles for fraud and money laundering. They have introduced legislation to regulate the service providers that set them up.
But Britain has left the sector unsupervised, opening the door to unscrupulous operators of shell or front companies, according to the report from Transparency International, the anti- corruption campaign group.
Official estimates suggest ￡25bn is laundered through the UK every year. The report says: "It seems to us unconscionable that the UK crown dependencies and overseas territories have been pushed to introduce legislation, yet the UK itself still lacks definitive plans to do so."
Marcus Killick, main author of the report and chairman of Gibraltar's Financial Services Commission, said the lack of regulation for company and trust service providers meant many suspect operators had relocated to the City. He said: "There is more than anecdotal evidence that people who would not get a licence in Jersey or Guernsey have cut and run and set up in the UK."
The abuse of company and trust shells to obfuscate the trail between criminal activity and the owners of the proceeds of crime has long been recognised by law enforcers.
The report says that money laundering can take place using both front companies - where real business is conducted and illegal profits are mixed with legitimate revenues - and shell companies, which have no trading substance but conceal the identity of the ultimate owner of the assets controlled by the company.
Service providers can set up the shell entities in a range of jurisdictions, provide registered offices, organise directors or company secretaries and arrange for people to act as trustees or nominee shareholders.
The report recognises most operations are entirely legitimate and conducted by ethical lawyers and accountants. However, it says other service providers are unqualified and unregulated by the Financial Services Authority or professional bodies. "We are not saying this is an industry that's rotten to the core. It's the people on the fringe," Mr Killick added.
Such regulation is already on the political agenda and could be included in the third European money laundering directive, expected next year. A Treasury consultation has sought views on regulation of company and trust service providers.
Money laundering regulations already require company and service trust providers to report suspicious activities to the authorities. But the report questions how that can be enforced when many of the providers remain unregulated.
Transparency International says the powers of inspection, sanctions and tests that providers are "fit and proper" that have been introduced by offshore jurisdictions should be used as a model for UK legislation. The report says: "The reason for focusing upon the provider, rather than the company or trust, is that the lat ter are . . . merely the tools through which the launderers and fraudsters operate."
最新报告：伦敦是洗钱“天堂”
今天一份有影响的报告将发出警告，不对“壳公司”运作者进行监管正使伦敦成为洗钱天堂，这种公司使罪犯可以隐藏通过不正当手段得来的资产。许多离岸司法管辖地区已推行立法，对服务提供商进行监管，以此打击服务提供商设立的匿名公司实体和信托。这些匿名公司实体和信托可能被用作诈骗和洗钱的工具。
但根据反腐败运动组织透明国际(Transparency International)的这份报告，英国还没有对该行业进行监督，为肆无忌惮的“壳”或“幌子”公司运作者敞开了大门。
官方估计数据表示，每年通过英国的洗钱数目约为250亿英镑。
这份名为《英国的腐败和洗钱》(Corruption and Money Laundering in the UK)的报告表示：“英国皇家属地和海外领地已被敦促推行该项立法，然而英国本身却没有明确的计划去这样做，这对我们来说似乎是不合理的。”
报告的主要作者、直布罗陀金融服务委员会主席马库斯?基利克(Marcus Killick)表示，由缺乏对公司和信托服务提供商的监管，意味着许多有嫌疑的运作者已迁址至伦敦金融城。长期以来，执法人员一直知道这些运作者滥用公司和信托空壳，来模糊犯罪活动和犯罪所得的拥有者之间的关系。
该报告表示，洗钱可以通过使用“幌子公司”和“壳公司”进行，“幌子公司”经营一项真实的业务，并把非法利润与合法收入混合起来，而“壳公司”则没有任何交易内容，完全掩盖了公司控制资产的最终所有者的身份。
服务提供商可以在一系列司法管辖地区设立空壳实体，提供得到登记的办事处，组织董事或公司秘书，并安排人充当受托人或名义股东。该报告发现，大多数此类业务是合法的，并由遵守行规的律师和会计师操作。
但报告说，其它服务提供商就不合格，也没有得到英国金融服务局或专业机构的监管。此类监管措施可能会收进第三个欧盟洗钱指令中，预计该指令将于明年启用
