New UK aid programmes will stop “dirty money”

As Prime Minister Theresa May visits Kenya, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced a series of aid programmes that will help to recover millions of pounds of illegal assets. As Ms Mordaunt pointed out, illicit finance sees “dirty money” diverted away from people in poor countries to individuals involved in crime, terrorism and fraud. This not only harms economies and legitimate financial sectors, but also erodes the confidence of potential investors.

The package of aid will create a new centre of expertise in major financial hubs in Africa to tackle financial crime more effectively and support the Kenyan authorities to bring people committing financial crimes to justice by helping to identify the proceeds of crime.

It will also train and mentor law enforcement officials in southern and eastern Africa to improve criminal justice systems by tightening legislation and strengthen investigation techniques, which will help to build their capacity to clamp down on serious organised crime.

Ms Mordaunt explained that financial crime hurts the world’s poorest the most, taking money away from schools, hospitals and other vital services in developing countries. The aid package will stop dirty money in its tracks and send a message to crooks that the UK Government is clamping down on spaces for them to hide their illegally gained wealth.

Roger Isaacs, Partner at Milsted Langdon, said: “One of the key means of preventing financial crime is the threat of being discovered.

“In countries where investigative methods are not robust, criminals have a tendency to feel that they can ‘get away with it’ and, in some cases, they often do.

However, if they are trained in UK forensic accountancy practices, they stand a much better chance of clamping down on dirty money.”

Author: Roger Isaacs 5 September 2018

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