UWOs and the supporting ‘interim freezing orders’ commenced on 31 January 2018.

In media interviews Ben Wallace, minister of state for security, said the ‘full force of government’ would be brought to bear on foreign criminals and corrupt politicians who use Britain as a haven for disposing of funds obtained from corrupt or illegal activity.

His comments have attracted interest as he explicitly referenced the current BBC drama series, McMafia, which focuses on Russian gangsters and the super rich in London.

Wallace said the drama was a ‘really good portrayal’ of how tainted money is moved around the world.

‘McMafia is one of those things where you realise that fact is ahead of fiction,’ Wallace said, adding ‘So far it's very close to the truth, the international nature of organised crime and the impunity with which some of these people operate and the brutality of it, is absolutely correct’.

Pressure group Transparency International UK claims to have identified £4.4bn worth of property in the UK with owners that it says should be considered as possible candidates for UWOs. Specific properties it has alleged should be investigated include an £18m mansion in Hampstead, houses in Park Lane and Belgravia, and flats in Westminster.

A UWO requires a person who is reasonably suspected of involvement in, or of being connected to a person involved in, serious crime to explain the nature and extent of their interest in particular property, and to explain how the property was obtained, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the respondent’s known lawfully obtained income would be insufficient to fund the purchase.

A UWO can also be applied to politicians or officials from outside the European economic area (EEA), or those associated with them i.e. politically exposed persons (PEPs). A UWO made in relation to a non-EEA PEP would not require suspicion of serious criminality.

HMRC, the National Crime Agency, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), or the Crown Prosecution Service are all able to apply for a UWO, which requires someone to provide information on their lawful ownership of a property and the means by which it was obtained; it is an investigation power and is not, by itself, a power to recover assets.

Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy at Transparency International UK, said:’ The introduction of UWOs is a significant moment in the fight against dirty money flowing into the UK. They will allow law enforcement to much more easily investigate assets that are highly likely to have been bought using corrupt money, often stolen from populations in some of the poorest parts of the world.

‘Any law is only as good as its implementation and the extent to which UWOs are used will prove how serious the UK government is in fighting corrupt money. These powers must be used effectively and do more than pay lip service to a long established problem.’

Home Office Circular 003/2018: unexplained wealth orders is here.

Report by Pat Sweet