£59 billion of suspicious funds purchase UK properties through Britain’s Overseas Territories

New Transparency International UK analysis finds £5.9 billion worth of suspicious funds has been used to purchase UK properties through shell companies registered in Britain’s Overseas Territories:-

• Since 2016, Transparency International UK has identified £11.1 billion of questionable funds invested in over 1,600 UK properties.
• Of this, more than half of these assets by value (£5.9bn) were purchased using shell companies registered in the UK:-

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) stands out as the worst offender:-

• Over 90% of suspect funds invested into the UK via an Overseas Territory went through the British Virgin Islands, equivalent to £5.5 billion.

The research from campaign group Transparency International UK found that:-

• 494 UK properties worth a total of £5.9bn had been purchased through organisations registered in the overseas territories over the past eight years.

According to TI, each property included:-

• Was either owned by an individual who was politically exposed from a high-corruption-risk jurisdiction;
• Had been sanctioned by the UK government since the purchase; or
• Was subsequently charged or convicted with, or alleged to have committed, financial crime offences.

The data was compiled from a combination of court documents, land registry, and corporate data, in addition to leaks such as the Pandora Papers, and is broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Margot Mollat, senior policy manager at TI UK, was quoted by the FT  as saying that the research highlighted:-

• “The Overseas Territories’ role as global hubs for suspicious and illicit wealth”.
• “The secrecy provided by these jurisdictions has made them destinations of choice for corrupt individuals seeking to conceal criminal acts and enjoy the proceeds of their crimes with impunity”.

Top 10 parliamentary constituencies: value and number of properties purchased since 2016 by companies based in the British Overseas Territories

SOURCE –

• https://transparency.org.uk/new-analysis-reveals-role-overseas-territories-pumping-almost-6-billion-dirty-money-uk-property
• https://www.ft.com/content/7fcd0f7a-d034-427f-81c0-9df8955e3d08
• https://www.ft.com/content/7fcd0f7a-d034-427f-81c0-9df8955e3d08?accessToken=zwAAAZNzGww1kc9_zQ960DRCf9OBwJ34lV49CA.MEUCIQDZS9rKWfIE0TWkkFiT3OLLr7Ow3uj6XXDM4gk_cEO3kgIgYyfSyQ7UpGJNWx7jZZWHkHCuadoimqB4yWjQH2eE_8c&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareType=enterprise&shareId=aa410f8f-8979-4502-bd98-be8144e764e0