Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
Tenth Report - Countries at crossroads: UK engagement in Central Asia
Published 10 Nov 2023
Paragraph 30
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The UK’s engagement in Central Asia All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
While there has been progress in developing laws and regulations to curb money laundering in the UK in recent years, enforcement has been inadequate, not least because of a lack of enforcement capacity. State agencies have been under-resourced in comparison with the wealthy individuals they are investigating. We reiterate the recommendation in our 2022 report, ‘The cost of complacency: illicit finance and the war in Ukraine’, that the Government increase resources available to law enforcement authorities, including the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office, to ensure that they have the capacity to conduct effective actions against those engaged in illicit finance.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Tenth Report - Countries at crossroads: UK engagement in Central Asia (HC 1158), paragraph 30, 10 November 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 January 2024 (deadline 10 January 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee on the value of closer engagement with Central Asia but responds "Partially Agree" to most recommendations, and "Disagree" to two on illicit finance and sanctions.
- On a Central Asia 5+UK meeting, it agrees and is "exploring opportunities for a Ministerial CA5+UK meeting in 2024", considering the format and agenda.
- On a Diplomatic Academy, it partially agrees, saying it would require "a significant investment in resources" and that the FCDO International Academy's resources are "not currently sufficient"; it will continue to consider informal ways of sharing expertise.
- It disagrees that the UK facilitates kleptocracy through under-enforcement, citing the Economic Crime Acts and a new National Crime Agency Combatting Kleptocracy Cell.
- It disagrees that the REPO Task Force should focus on sanctions evasion in Central Asia, saying it does not have the mandate for regionally focused work, though the UK is prioritising the issue through other channels.