Call for Evidence

Written submissions on Economic Crime: Update from the Committee, 27 January 2021

The Committee would like to thank all those who have made written submissions to its inquiry into Economic Crime.

The Committee has discretion over which submissions it accepts as evidence, and which of those it reports to the House for publication. It has accepted as evidence almost all submissions, excluding only those which had already been published elsewhere.

Most of the written evidence was published on 19 January, and these submissions can be viewed on the Committee’s web pages.

The Committee decided, however, not to publish some evidence. In reaching a decision in each case, it has taken into account:

• The submission’s relevance to the Committee’s inquiry
• The risk of prejudicing any legal proceedings which may have begun or which may begin in the near future
• The risk of compromising any ongoing internal or external investigation into allegations of malpractice, fraud, criminal acts or other behaviour by individuals or financial institutions
• The risk of damaging the reputations of individuals or institutions where no malpractice, fraud or other criminal behaviour has been proven
• The risk of disclosing sensitive personal information

The Committee will draw on all evidence to the inquiry, whether or not it has been published.

The first oral evidence in this inquiry was held on Monday 25 January, when the National Economic Crime Centre, City of London Police and Police Scotland gave evidence. Further evidence sessions will be announced in the spring.

Terms of Reference

In the previous Parliament, the then Treasury Committee undertook an inquiry into Economic Crime, which looked at the UK’s anti-money laundering systems and sanction implementation systems, as well as the impact of economic crime from a consumer perspective. It reported separately on both streams.

Following on from that work, the current Treasury Committee has decided to review what progress has been made in combatting economic crime.

It would therefore welcome written evidence on the following as regards the UK’s anti-money laundering and sanctions regimes, and economic crime affecting consumers:

• Concerns regarding or improvements to the UK’s anti-money laundering and the sanctions regimes, including but not limited to:

o The work of OPBAS and the profession body AML supervisors

o The impact of the FinCEN papers

o Corporate liability for economic crime

o The work of Companies House

• Consumers and economic crime, including but not limited to:

o Any emerging trends in consumer facing economic crime as a result of the COVID crisis

o The operation of the Contingent Reimbursement Model for Authorised Push Payment Fraud

o The response of financial institutions to economic crime as it affects consumers

Those submitting written evidence may find it useful to consider the previous Treasury Committee’s Reports on Economic Crime.

Those responding should note that the Committee will not take up individual cases, and any suspected criminal activity should be reported to the appropriate authorities.