Rudd announces crackdown on country’s economic crime
BILLIONS OF pounds of illgotten gains have been laundered through the City of London, the Home Secretary warned as she announced a series of measures in an economic crime crackdown.
Amber Rudd said a new National Economic Crime Centre would be established to oversee the police response to financial crimes and also forge closer links with the private sector.
The Government also published an anti-corruption strategy, setting priorities to tackle the insider threat in ports, prisons, policing and defence and reduce corruption in public procurement and grants.
The move comes after an internal Government review into the impact of crimes including fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering and measures to tackle them.
According to official estimates, individuals lose a total of around £6.8bn a year to fraud – equivalent to around £100 per person – while money laundering costs the UK economy £90bn annually.
Ms Rudd said: “Today we are taking action against economic crime and by that I mean the high-level crime, the billions that have been laundered through the City of London, making sure we reduce that and we are very clear we expect higher standards of integrity in this country.
“But also about everyday economic crime that affects everybody. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t know somebody who knows somebody who has been the victim of some sort of online fraud. On those two elements, high-level economic crime and everyday economic crime, we’re taking action to make sure we reduce it in this country.”
Ms Rudd said economic crime was not “victimless”.
“Everybody is vulnerable to economic crime and I want the UK to be a beacon of integrity, a beacon of excellence in this area, not only for international trade and international banking for which quite rightly we have such a high reputation but also for individuals,” she said.
“For people to be able to trust systems they have in place with their banks, trust the regulators and to be able to know when to spot low-level financial crime that can suddenly hit them.
“Some people think it’s a victimless crime. It’s not – it hurts people, it hurts families, sometimes they lose their houses and I want people to be aware of the danger and for the regulators and for the Government to be leading and taking action in this area.”