Transparency International calls on UK to investigate Sharif family London assets

The UK must now investigate corruption charges related to the four London properties following Nawaz Sharif's sentencing, said Transparency International on Friday hours after the ousted prime minister was sentenced to 10 years in jail."If a UK investigation concludes that the properties have been bought with corrupt money, then the authorities should move to seize the assets. Transparency International also calls on UK law enforcement to investigate any further property in the UK owned by the Sharif family," said the organization in a statement on its website.Rachel Davies Teka, Head of Advocacy at Transparency International UK, said:“We are calling on the UK authorities to investigate the London-based assets identified in this conviction and ensure that Sharif and his family are no longer able to enjoy any luxury homes that are found to have been bought with the proceeds of corruption. Furthermore we believe the UK must look into any other potentially criminal UK based assets owned by the Sharif family.”“This will serve as an important test as to how serious the Government is on cracking down on the prevalence of corrupt money in our capital. The laundering of dirty money is not confined to Russian oligarchs and it is important that we target illicit assets wherever they originate from.”“The recent passing of legislation that will require British Overseas Territories to publicly reveal the true owners of companies is a key step towards preventing the purchase of UK property with suspicious wealth. The UK must now ensure it follows through on this legislation, so that we no longer need to rely on leaks like the Panama Papers to reveal cases such as this one.”

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2MWHQMC