With the revelations of the #panamapapers, whats the Mayor of London, got to say about money-laundering in London?
Well you can see from the video link above his verbal response to my questioning on the matter but only last month l asked where he was in stopping money laundering in London. It sounds to me he’s backtracking on the matter, from the response l got below;
Stopping Money Laundering in London
Question No: 2016/1207
Murad Qureshi
Is it not time for estate agents to run checks on the buyers of properties, as they are legally obliged to do with sellers, at least at the top end of the housing market in Central London?
Written response from the Mayor
Responsibility for anti-money laundering activities has recently been transferred from the Office for Fair Trading to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. HMRC are now enforcing the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, which require estate agents to take adequate measures to verify the identity of customers and beneficial owners. Failure to comply can result in a criminal record or an unlimited fine.
The Government has also said it will launch a consultation on how to stop entities in offshore tax havens from owning property in the UK anonymously.
I trust and hope he is not going to backtrack on the matter, with the release of the #panamapapers and its links with money laundering in London.