Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of shell companies being used to invest corrupt money in the UK in each of the last 10 years; and what steps he plans to take to tighten related money laundering regulations.

The opaque nature of such structures means that we are unable to produce an accurate estimate of how many are used to invest corrupt money in the UK. That is one reason why the Prime Minister put beneficial ownership transparency at the heart of the UK’s G8 Presidency in 2013. The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act received Royal Assent earlier this year and established a public register of company beneficial ownership information. This register will be operational from June 2016. The Act also abolished bearer shares and introduced a requirement for all company directors to be natural persons.

In Europe, we worked hard during the negotiation of the 4^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive to encourage European partners to match our level of ambition to ensure that criminal activity would not simply be displaced. The Directive was formally adopted in June 2015 and requires all Member States to implement central registers of company beneficial ownership will access for competent authorities, obliged entities and those with a legitimate interest. Member states have until June 2017 to transpose these requirements.

The Government is continuing to take strong action to make the UK a hostile environment for corrupt money and to make it increasingly difficult for criminals to abuse corporate structures. We will shortly publish the UK’s first National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and have committed to publishing an Anti-Money Laundering Action Plan to address those issues which are highlighted by the National Risk Assessment.