Why has the Government allowed Britain to become a safe haven for dirty money? - Yorkshire Post Letters

How remarkable that a true British success is making this country a home for dirty money. Recently the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, admitted that nearly 40 per cent of the world's dirty money is going through the City of London and other UK offshore places like Crown Dependencies and British overseas territories.

This money results from money laundering around the world, money stolen from countries by corrupt politicians, assorted warlords and outright crooks calling themselves ‘businessmen’.

Many of the world's most impoverished economies have been plundered by these dubious characters, throwing their peoples into poverty.

Hundreds if not thousands of UK lawyers, estate agents and accountants have been involved in this trade turning a blind eye to corruption as long as they obtained their own percentage.

To give some credit to the Government, it legislated to ensure overseas bodies wanting to own or transfer land in the UK register with Companies House to make clear who the beneficial owners are.

Yet the law is often flouted. Research has shown that more than 70 per cent of properties in England and Wales held by overseas companies do not have published information about who really owns them.

Is it too much to hope that a future government will act to give this legislation real teeth and end the curse of money laundering in Britain forever? Otherwise it will remain a national disgrace.