Draft Register of Overseas Entities (Definition of Foreign Limited Partner, Protection and Rectification) Regulations 2023

Wayne David Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 General Committees

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

I do not claim to be an expert in this quite complicated area, but I would like to ask a very basic and fundamental question. We all support clamping down on money laundering, and we all know the stories about London being the capital for Russian money laundering and illicit activity, but I wonder whether the Minister can explain what exactly is meant by “protection”. As I understand the explanatory memorandum, protection is the withholding of personal information from public inspection—but surely we would all agree that there is a need for as much public inspection and transparency as possible.

Will the Minister explain why the SI will allow applications for so-called protection, needed because an individual is at serious risk but the risk would no longer need to be linked to the overseas entity? What exactly is the risk, and who would make the determination? Would it be a civil servant, or would there be ministerial oversight or intervention involved in assessing whether the with- holding of information is appropriate and justified?