Dirty money: Can the UK afford to turn down kleptocracies?

After the economic downturn brought on by coronavirus and Brexit, the UK may have no choice but to turn even more a blind eye to this influx of foreign cash, writes Tom Mayne

London is often referred to as the money laundering capital of the world (AFP/Getty)

The recent FinCEN scandal – which saw the leak of confidential bank reports – allowed us a peek behind the curtain at the vast amounts of dubious funds that pass through our financial system. As well as moving money for fraudsters and drug dealers, the leaked files show how shady officials from corruption hotspots transfer millions from their countries through some of the world’s biggest banks. These countries are often referred to as “kleptocracies” – where the ruling elite abuse their power to make incredible fortunes from the country’s natural resources. 

The transfer of dubious capital into Europe and America from kleptocracies not only deprives the people who live in these countries of much-needed revenue, but represents – in the words of Tom Burgis, the author of the recent Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World – “the privatisation of power itself”. The ongoing protests in Belarus highlight the close link between kleptocracy and a lack of political freedom: according to one estimate, since coming to power, president Alexander Lukashenko and his entourage have misappropriated $10bn from the Belarusian people.