This week, the UK ministers and the crème de la crème of Britain’s overseas territories are gathering for the joint ministerial council. Think of it like a very serious family reunion, with less awkward small talk and more discussions about a united game plan. What’s the goal? To sync up on shared democratic values and respect for human rights, while avoiding the bathtubs full of cash that could tempt anyone at a party!

Now, amidst all this camaraderie, there’s also a big elephant in the room—our commitment to stick to some decent standards. For those on the front lines against money laundering and fraud, it’s all about pulling off that classic magic trick: making secrecy disappear and showing off a bit of corporate transparency. You know the type: those publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership, because who said business can’t be a little nosy? Check this link for the inside scoop!

Let’s be honest: the overseas territories and crown dependencies are like that friend who helps shady characters hide their dirty laundry—OOPS, I meant money! Britain’s offshore tax havens have been the stars of many global money laundering scandals. Remember the 2016 drama of the Panama Papers? Half of the shady characters named were from the British Virgin Islands, and not a single one of them had a “No bad guys allowed” sign on their door.

And don’t get us started on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine! It turned out these offshore havens are the ultimate hide and seek champions. Russian oligarchs are stashing their assets in secret trusts, thinking they can just duck and weave through sanctions while we serve them tea. It’s like we’re unknowingly funding global bad guys while putting our national security in a bit of a pickle!

Dirty money isn’t just some drama for Netflix; it fuels corruption, crime, and conflict! It does some serious harm, taking resources away from public services that really need it—like getting that new slide for the local park.

Enter our superhero, public registers! They’re like the magnifying glass to our detective story, revealing the true owners of companies and assets, helping us trace that slippery money and spot any wrongdoing. If we finally nail this down, we could say goodbye to decades of secrecy in those shady havens!

This move has the full thumbs up from the business community, who think it’s a brilliant way to promote good corporate behavior. And guess what? MPs from all corners of the political playground are backing it too! Back in 2018, we managed to push through an amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act, demanding those overseas territories whip up some public registers of beneficial ownership within two years.

However, plot twist! The previous government agreed to hit snooze on that legislation. The overseas territories and crown dependencies vowed to roll out these magical public registers by the end of 2023. Spoiler alert: that deadline came and went, and only two jurisdictions even bothered to comply. The rest? Well, they decided to ignore Parliament like it was a group chat notification.

Most offshore havens have either pulled a Houdini on their promises or sprinkled in some serious backpedaling. The worst offenders, like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, haven’t even given a hint of when they might establish these public registers. And for the crown dependencies? They’re playing the “blame it on Europe” card, using a ruling from the European Court of Justice to backtrack on their commitments, despite the fact that the UK is no longer bound by EU laws. Classic!

All signs point to open registers being the key to stopping that nasty flow of dirty money. It’s not just the Panama Papers we’re talking about—there’s the Paradise Papers, the Russian Laundromat, the FinCEN Files, and so many more! They all show that without open registers, connecting the dots on corruption is like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. Only with a little transparency spotlight can we finally tackle these sneaky issues!