Compliance & Regulation

UK Government unveils extensive measures to clamp down on global corruption, giving criminals “nowhere to hide”

The UK Government has announced wide-ranging measures to tackle corruption at home and abroad ahead of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen yesterday.

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, announced today [Monday, 22 October] wide-ranging measures to tackle corruption at home and abroad ahead of the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Copenhagen, where the UK will call on international partners to join them in tackling systemic global corruption.

The announcements follow the publication of the UK Anti-Corruption Strategy in December 2017. That strategy set out how tackling corruption is crucial to UK national security, to international prosperity, and to building citizens’ trust in government.

Earlier this month, there was a further boost to the UK’s fight against corruption at home and overseas when the Court of Appeal lifted anonymity on the target of the UK’s first Unexplained Wealth Order, the wife of an Azeri banker jailed for defrauding a state-owned bank. She spent £16 million in Harrods, and is now obliged to explain how she sourced that wealth.

The Court of Appeal’s decision has set a precedent which will act as a deterrent for individuals looking to use the UK as a destination for illegal funds.