David Cameron has vowed to protect British properties from being used as a vehicle to launder “dirty money”.
Speaking in Singapore today, the Prime Minister promised to expose corrupt foreign buyers who are acquiring luxury UK properties, usually in London, via anonymous shell companies.
Cameron stressed that most businesses investing in British property are completely legitimate and are welcome in the country, but he wanted to ensure all money used to invest in the UK is “clean money”.
Commenting on the Prime Minister’s statement, Mark Hayward, managing director, National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said:
“We do not tolerate the behaviour of any estate agents who are involved in money laundering within the UK property market, and agree with the Prime Minister that our property market should never be a place that facilitates corruption of any kind. All agents should report any activities of such nature to HMRC or the National Crime Agency, and failure to notify them, or to allow money laundering activities to knowingly take place, is a criminal act.
“Our members agree to abide by the professional standards that the NAEA has put in place, and we operate a range of sanctions to combat any breach of these strict standards. As a result of the recent From Russia with Cash documentary we are working closely with HMRC and the NCA in order to educate all of our members on the subject of money laundering, in order to fight against any such abuses in the UK property market.”
Finally you woke up … Better late than never