Mary Robinson MP comments on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
This week we saw the second reading of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCT) Bill in Parliament, building on the work of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022.
Both of these important pieces of legislation are responding to the illegitimate invasion by Russia in Ukraine, resulting in the largest international package of sanctions in history. However, as we outlined in our previous piece on the US Anti-Money Laundering reporting systems, if there are gaps in the sanctions their effectiveness is reduced.
The UK has a massive issue with economic crime. Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, cited figures from the University of Portsmouth of a £350 billion a year cost of the UK economy, going on to say
“It is the enormity of the sums that gives the UK the shameful and dubious distinction of being the jurisdiction of choice for oligarchs, kleptocrats and criminals around the world—people who choose us to hide and launder their ill-gotten gains.”
It is clear that action needs to be taken. Whether it is breaching international sanctions, defrauding the Government, or scamming ordinary people using novel economic products the UK must act.
As chair of the APPG for Whistleblowing, Mary Robinson outlined the failure of the Public Interest Disclosure Act that simply fails to provide any protection from those who would wish them ill. She repeated the points that she made on 26th April when introducing the Whistleblowing Bill reinforcing the need to facilitate those informed insiders who want to speak up. Without whistleblowers we will never effectively tackle this crime!
“Existing legislation applies only to employees— not to contractors, trustees, volunteers or many others who might hold vital information.”
”Without adequate protections, the stakes for an informed insider blowing the whistle are simply too high.”
As an organisation WhistleblowersUK has seen all too often insiders, even if they qualify as employees, who are threatened with various forms of retaliation the only legal redress is unaffordable legal action in the Employment Tribunal. Many confronted with this are compelled to sign gagging clauses (commonly known as Non-Disclosure Agreements NDA’s), this is often accompanied by blacklisting condemning whistleblowers to retain or poverty. It is essential that this once in a lifetime opportunity is used to transform the way whistleblowing is viewed and to bring about real, meaningful and trusted protection for those who speak up.
The ECCT Bill does a lot for tackling economic crime within the UK, it is a welcome upgrade for Companies House to build it into an intelligence led operational regulator for companies within the UK but it misses the fundamental point that Whistleblowers are key to making it work! Here is an opportunity to introduce the Office of the Whistleblower to join together and make this Bill and our existing framework effective. This will save us lives, identify criminals and return taxpayers money to the treasury where it can be used to improve our public services.
“It is clear that the well intentioned Public Interest Disclosure Act must be repealed and any attempt to bring forward amendments resisted as they are incapable of addressing the core failings of the Act. We can no longer continue to treat whistleblowing as an employment matter. The Office of the Whistleblower will protect every citizen and remove the fear of retaliation.”
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