Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Paragraph: 35
Given the impressive coordination with the EU and US on sanctioning individuals and entities in...
Recommendation
Given the impressive coordination with the EU and US on sanctioning individuals and entities in relation to the war in Ukraine, we urge the Government to build on this initiative and to develop a comprehensive transatlantic partnership to curb kleptocracy. This transatlantic partnership has the potential to adjust the global financial order in a way that bears down on corruption and bolsters democratic values.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that transatlantic collaboration is vital and emphasizes working with partners bilaterally and multilaterally to tackle illicit finance. They cite existing partnerships with the US and UAE, participation in the G7 and G20, and involvement in the US-led Summit for Democracy’s Financial Transparency and Integrity Cohort.
Paragraph Reference:
35
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government notes the Committee’s recommendation and agrees that transatlantic collaboration and coordination are vital if we are to bear down on the myriad harms caused by illicit finance and kleptocracy. The Government places strong emphasis on working with partners around the world bilaterally and in multilateral fora to tackle the threat posed to collective security by illicit finance. This includes bilateral partnerships with the US and the UAE, building on multilateral efforts at the G7, G20, and at relevant international organisations such as the Financial Action Task Force, OECD, and UN. In the Integrated Review, the Government committed to working even more closely with the US in tackling illicit finance to strengthen the UK’s most important bilateral relationship against the shared threat of illicit finance. The importance of this cooperation was demonstrated by its inclusion in the New Atlantic Charter in June 2021, as agreed by the Prime Minister and President Biden. In recent years, the Government has taken various measures to strengthen the wide-ranging partnership it has with the US on this issue, including deploying a dedicated Serious and Organised Crime network (SOCnet) Illicit Finance Adviser to the Embassy in Washington to complement existing resource dedicated to sanctions coordination and law enforcement cooperation with the US. The established robust internal systems and structures bring together our technical, The cost of complacency: illicit finance and the war in Ukraine: Government Response 11 operational, and policy engagements with the US into a strategic whole. The speed with which we were able to engage and coordinate on sanctions designations with the US was, in part, the result of the strong foundations already put in place over many years. delivered to date. We will be playing an active role in the US-led Summit for Democracy’s Financial Transparency and Integrity Cohort, formally established on 21 July 2022, that has a specific focus on combatting transnational corruption and related money laundering. We will also work with G7 partners to deliver the commitment in the 2022 G7 Leaders’ Communique to intensify cooperation and consider further steps to hold kleptocrats, criminals, and their enablers to account. Additionally, work is underway to develop a new Anti-Corruption Strategy and the next Economic Crime Plan, which will go further still to tackle the threat from Economic Crime, including a specific focus on kleptocracy and sanctions evasion.