Thread by @greybrow53

Those of us here in the U.K. watching events unfold in Ukraine might be forgiven for thinking “this is all Russia’s fault”.

We need to remind ourselves that:
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U.K. companies were at the heart of the Russian laundromat.

U.K. companies were at the heart of the Azerbaijani laundromat

U.K. companies were at the heart of the Danske Bank scandal
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U.K. companies were singled out by the FinCEN files as the most frequent to appear in the leaked SARs

U.K. company formations continue to be abused on a daily basis.
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The U.K. government could have, at any point over the last two decades or so, implemented reforms to Companies House that would have gone a long way to remedying the situation.

Russia is a kleptocracy.

We are part of the problem.

We need to become part of the solution.

End

Postscript.

I am not trying to imply, in any way, that the U.K. was complicit in the event of the past few weeks.

However, historical context is also vital if we are to learn from this.

I know of so many examples of U.K. companies facilitating terrorism financing…

…sanctions evasion and the laundering of corrupt money that has allowed a few men to become excessively wealthy at the expense of the many and feel that they are somehow “untouchable”.

We are now going to sanction them and others.

Such is the nature of company formation here in the U.K. that we do not know who owns or controls 1,000s of U.K. companies.

Except on the odd occasion that data is leaked.

And we find out that some of them are owned by criminals of the worst kind.

We must stop this.