Spotlight on Corruption’s submission to HM Treasury’s consultation: “Reform of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Supervisory Regime”
The global sanctions response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been unprecedented, not only in terms of the scale and severity of sanctions measures that have been imposed but also the extent of international coordination and cooperation that this has entailed. The rapid expansion of the UK’s sanctions programme has not been without its challenges, but the UK government should be credited for acting at speed and under significant pressure in the early stages of the war to scale up its sanctions response.
Transparency in court proceedings is essential for us to do our work. We have therefore consistently championed the principle of open justice and advocated for greater transparency in how the courts operate. We therefore welcome this call for evidence on the way forward for open justice, and urge the government to raise the level of its ambition to tackle the current barriers of access to court hearings and information.
Spotlight reiterates the recommendations in its previous written evidence that have not
yet been implemented by the government. In addition, and in light of the government’s
response to the reports by CSPL, PACAC and Boardman, Spotlight recommends that the
government:
We welcome the government’s aim of “delivering a cultural shift in victims’ experiences by putting their interests at the heart of the justice system”. However, we are concerned that victims of complex economic and financial crime, such as corruption, are currently finding it far too hard to achieve recognition, and receive support and compensation.
This submission first examines two key areas of government activity that are particularly vulnerable to fraud and corruption: government-backed loan schemes and public procurement.
In our view, there are several key omissions in the Bill which have the potential to significantly undermine the potential effectiveness of these important reforms.
