Westminster council bosses today launched a fresh initiative to rid London of its reputation as one of the leading dirty money laundering havens of the world.
The Labour-controlled authority has teamed up with major West End business organisations New West End Company and Heart of London Business Alliance as well as campaign group the Fair Tax Foundation in a new front to counter the capital’s London laundromat image as a place where properties and businesses can be used to recycle money “of questionable origin” with impunity.
A new charter commits the council to drawing up a comprehensive register of properties where the ultimate ownership is hidden by complex structures such as offshore shell companies; pledging to enter into commercial relationship only with companies with clear ownership transparency; and working with the Government to promote reform of the business rates system to ensure empty shops are filled quickly with high quality retailers rather than “candy stores”.
Council leader Adam Hug said: “It took the war in Ukraine to refocus attention on oligarch investments and what London has become in terms of a European laundromat for dirty money.
“But the problem goes wider than Russian oligarchs to many others who see Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and the West End as places to rinse their money. This not only damages the reputation of our city by supporting authoritarianism abroad but drains the vitality of areas with empty or underused homes.
“At the same time, Companies House is being played like a fiddle by people who set up opaque shell companies to carry out dodgy transactions and offshore that money as quickly as they can as demonstrated so vividly by the rash of candy stores on Oxford Street.
“This new charter underlines our combined commitment to transparency and openness in business.”
Westminster has seen a 300% rise in properties registered to owners in Jersey and a 1200% leap in properties registered to owners in Russia since 2010.
