UK

[joselync]

The warning comes as new figures obtained by the Observer show nearly 30,000 properties in England and Wales including mansions owned by the Russian elite are registered to companies and individuals based in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Most of the owners are unknown after delays in a government pledge to end secret offshore ownership of property. Writing in the Observer, Starmer says greater transparency, more powerful counter-espionage measures and new anti-corruption laws are required to combat money laundering in the UK. He said that Putin deployed illicit money and influence “as a judo move that turns the openness and freedom of western democracies into weaknesses”.