The UK is the world's biggest money laundry. But after years of dragging their feet, they're finally going to get a beneficial ownership register for property:
Offshore owners of British property will be forced to reveal their true identities or face jail sentences and unlimited fines under draft laws that aim to end the UK’s reputation as a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering.
The legislation follows years of scandals involving the acquisition of high-value UK property by offshore companies, and concerns that a lack of regulation was allowing corrupt money into the housing market.
[...]
Under the new legislation, overseas companies that own UK properties will be required to identify their true owners on a publicly available register. The government said the register was part of a wider crackdown on money laundering in the property sector, and would make it easier for law enforcers to seize criminal assets.
Which means that Putin's cronies will finally have to front up and admit how many empty London mansions they're stockpiling their stolen wealth in, and they can then be forced to explain where it came from. But its not just going to help in the fight against corruption - it will also help reduce tax cheating, by exposing wealth. And insofar as it encourages criminals and tax cheats to flee the market, it will lower property prices, making homes more accessible to UKanians.
...which really makes you wonder why we don't have a similar law here.
