Isle of Man reaffirms commitment to sanctions

Fri, 11 Mar 2022

The Isle of Man has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing all UK and UN sanctions deployed in response to Russia's actions, and to further economic crime prevention measures.

On Wednesday afternoon, Treasury Minister David Ashford MBE MHK joined ministers from the other Crown Dependencies in a virtual meeting with the UK’s Minister of State for Security and Borders, Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility, Rt Hon Lord Callanan, to discuss the Economic Crime Bill, which forms part of the UK’s package of economic measures against targeted Russian individuals and organisations.

The meeting provided an update on elements of the legislation including:

• The Register of Overseas Entities (ROE), which will ensure owners of UK property cannot hide behind opaque corporate structures registered overseas
• Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) powers, which will enable UK law enforcement agencies to take more effective action against kleptocrats and criminals, compelling them to prove the origins of their funds in the UK
• Changes to sanctions enforcement powers to ensure financial sanctions introduced by the Government are as effective as possible.

Minister Ashford said: ‘It was extremely helpful to share this open and positive discussion with UK ministers on the Economic Crime Bill. It provided the opportunity to ensure that the Isle of Man’s position was clearly communicated and understood.

‘I explained that we will play our part in ensuring that the Island applies all sanctions measures in line with the UK. Also, that we remain fully committed to ensuring that a public register of beneficial ownership is established in line with our existing commitment, which will compliment and support the UK’s efforts in establishing a register of overseas entities.’

The UK’s Security Minister Damian Hinds said: ‘I welcome the action the Isle of Man has already taken and continues to take to sanction Putin and his cronies. We will continue to work with them to clamp down on corruption and the flow of dirty money.

‘Our new Economic Crime Bill will further enable the UK to take action against corrupt elites, simplifying the process of imposing sanctions and strengthening law enforcement’s ability to investigate the origins of property and recover the proceeds of crime.’

 

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