4 March 2015, Transparency International* — It is well-known that the global rich are buying up large parts of London. But who they really are and where their money comes from is too often a well-kept secret. They use secret offshore companies to buy the properties and don’t disclose their identities.
These secret companies (or shell companies) are a common way for moving corrupt money around the world.
Today Transparency International UK is publishing Corruption on your doorstep: How corrupt capital is used to buy property in the UK. This investigation of the London land registries shows just how extensive the use of secret offshore companies is to buy property:
- 36,342 properties covering 2.2 square miles (5.7 square kilometres) of London – an area twice the size of London’s financial district – are owned by shell companies.
- 75 per cent of UK properties that are currently being investigated because of corruption are registered in secret safe havens.
There is growing evidence that the UK property market has become a safe haven for corrupt capital stolen from around the world, facilitated by the laws which allow UK property to be owned by secret offshore companies.” – Robert Barrington, executive director, Transparency International UK
Transparency International UK has created a visual story of the journey corrupt funds take from origin country to the British real estate market on its ukunmaskthecorrupt.org website.
It is launching a petition to call for transparency over who owns the companies that own so much property in the UK. You can sign the petition here: End Corrupt Money in UK Property
Become part of the movement to stop the secrecy that helps the corrupt use their ill-gotten gains to fund luxury lifestyles. Help us Unmask the Corrupt. Tweet your support using the hashtags #DoorstepCorruption #OffshoreLondon
Unmask the Corrupt is a global campaign by Transparency International to force governments to outlaw the use of shell companies by introducing public registries of the real owners.
It is also calling for tighter controls on the facilitators of corrupt deals to ensure that anyone who sells luxury goods, including properties, reports suspicious transactions.
Supplementary downloads: 2015_TIUK_LondonPropertyMap
Press contact(s): Chris Sanders, Manager, Media and Public Relations [email protected] +49 30 3438 20 666
*Source: Transparency International. Go to Original.
Read also:
Corruption: ‘Most Bribe Payers and Takers Are from Wealthy Countries’
‘Systemic Corruption in Health Sector in West Africa Hurt Response to Ebola Epidemic’
‘The Western financial system is a house of cards resting on corruption’
‘There Is a Clear Connection between Torture, Ill-treatment and Corruption’ – UN Rights Expert
“It’s the Devil’s Excrement” – Where Fossil Fuels Lurk, Corruption Creeps
2015 Human Wrongs Watch