One year since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Spotlight on Corruption Executive Director Dr Susan Hawley and Tom Keatinge, Director of The Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at RUSI, have written to Security Minister Tom Tugendhat calling for a new measure to enhance the enforcement of sanctions against Russia.
To stop sanctioned persons hiding their assets and evading sanctions, they would have to disclose their UK assets and provide a statement of assets they held, owned or controlled six months before they were sanctioned. Failure to do so would be a criminal offence.
This measure would support law enforcement in their efforts to detect and trace frozen assets by increasing transparency. Undisclosed assets could potentially be confiscated as a form of sanctions evasion.
With calls growing for frozen assets to be seized and used to help fund the reconstruction of Ukraine, amending the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill to include this simple but powerful measure would be a quick win for the govt.
You can read the full letter below.
