End money laundering if you want to hurt Putin
AS WE learn more and more about the devastating attack in Salisbury, the SNP are calling for the UK Government to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.
We shouldn’t understate the seriousness of what has happened in the past weeks.
The attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter and the harm and risk caused to our emergency service workers and the public is appalling.
The Skripals were found unconscious on a bench after being exposed to poison.
The UK Government say it was a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. The Prime Minister has said she believed Moscow was “culpable”, and the Foreign Secretary said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Vladimir Putin personally ordered the attack.
Since then, the police have launched a separate murder investigation after the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov in south-west London.
Taking action on Russian money laundering would be one way to make it absolutely clear to the Kremlin that Scotland and the UK will not tolerate activities that infringe international law.
SNP MPs have repeatedly called for action on money laundering. In 2016, we were part of a cross-party group of MPs who proposed the introduction of a “Magnitsky” clause in the UK to seize the assets and ban the entry of those implicated in atrocities and corruption.
The SNP have also campaigned for action on the misuse of Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs), which are being used as a vehicle to funnel millions of pounds in dirty money.
SLPs do not have to register for UK tax or provide financial reports if they are conducting business abroad, and their shareholders can be anonymous. Thousands of them have been set up over the past few years and we know they are being used to move money out of Russia.
An SLP registered in Glasgow was used to transfer £160million out Russia last year.
When Theresa May gave a statement on Russia in the House of Commons last week, my SNP colleague Alison Thewliss MP asked about SLPs and what the UK Government will do to close the loophole that allows them to function in the way they do.
The Prime Minister said the Government take money laundering “very seriously” but she couldn’t say what action they plan to take.
Yesterday, SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford MP wrote to May urging her to organise a joint meeting of all political parties to discuss the matter further.
In recent years, it has been the UK Government who have acted as a road block to reforms that could tackle money laundering.
While the SNP have campaigned for progress, the Tory Government have blocked it.
Given the PM’s response to recent events, I hope she will agree with the SNP that it is now time to take tough action on this issue.