22nd November 2019, London – Following the launch of Labour’s Tax Transparency Programme for the 2019 General Election, Global Witness is calling on all parties to adopt similar pledges to crack down on the UK’s role as a safe haven for dirty money.
Ava Lee, Senior Campaigner at Global Witness, said:
“For far too long, the UK has rolled out the red carpet to the criminal and corrupt. The policies announced by Labour could finally put an end to that - by making it much harder for oligarchs, gangsters and corrupt politicians to stash and launder dirty cash through companies, trusts and property.”
“Fighting corruption shouldn’t be a partisan issue. We are looking to all parties to show they are finally calling time on dirty money.”
Measures, that Global Witness have campaigned on for, announced by Labour include:
- Improving the Persons of Significant Control (PSC) Register with information on the owners of UK registered companies that is verified, and reducing the threshold for disclosure of shareholders to include all shareholders, not just those with over 25% of shares.
- Introducing a public register of all trusts that operate through the UK.
- Working with the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to ensure they fulfil commitments to company ownership transparency.
- Increasing transparency of land ownership.
Read more on Global Witness’ call to all political parties at the UK 2019 General Election here.
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