UK determined to tackle dirty Russia cash, insists No.10

DOWNING Street has rejected accusations the Government is “turning a blind eye” to “dirty money” from Russia.

In a strongly-worded report the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said despite the outcry over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, President Vladimir Putin and his allies were continuing to use the City as a base for their “corrupt assets”.

But Number 10 insisted the UK was determined to drive “dirty money and the money launderers” out of the country.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The UK has taken a leading role in the global fight against illicit finance and criminals should be in no doubt we will come for them, their assets and their money. We are determined to drive dirty money and the money launderers out of the UK and we’ll use all the powers that we have – including the new powers in the Criminal Finance Act – to clamp down on those that threaten our security.

“It is for our independent law enforcement agencies, and ultimately the courts, to use these powers but this Government will continue to take all necessary steps to keep the country safe.”

In its hard-hitting report, the committee said the Government needed to show “stronger political leadership”, with further sanctions against “Kremlin-connected individuals” and action to close loopholes in the existing regime.

Assets stored and laundered in London, it said, were being used to support Mr Putin’s campaign to subvert the international-rules based order and undermine Western allies and combating it should be a “major UK foreign policy priority”.

Despite the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, using a Novichok nerve agent, blamed by Britain on the Kremlin, the committee said it remained “business as usual” in the City for wealthy Russian oligarchs.

When they had tried to press Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on what could be done to halt to flow of corrupt money into the UK, the MPs said he had appeared to suggest “there was no real role for Government in this process”.

Speaking during a visit to Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, Theresa May said the Government had taken “significant steps” to tackle illicit finances.

She said: “We have set up the National Crime Agency. We have set up a new national economic crime centre within the National Crime Agency under the security and economic crime minister.”