British media: Britain requires foreigners to buy a house in real name, aiming to combat the "black money" pouring in after the Russian and Ukraine conflict

[Global Times Special Journalist Ji Shuangcheng Xin Bin] According to Reuters on the 1st, the British government said that the British "Overseas entity registration system", which has taken effect this Monday this Monday, will require foreign entities (including companies and individuals and individuals who have real estate in the UK (including companies and individuals and individuals ) Real -name declaration. It is reported that the bill is part of the draft of the British government's "Economic Crime (Transparency and Law Enforcement) Act", which aims to combat Russia's "invasion" Ukraine's "black money" that poured into the UK.

Data map source Visual China

According to the British "Financial Times", according to the above bills, starting from the 1st of this month, any new transaction involving anonymous foreign buyers must disclose the real information of the beneficiary of everyone from the British "Company Registry" before Application for the registration office.具体来说，在英格兰，自1999年以来，任何海外匿名实体购买的房产和土地，必须在明年1月底之前登记入册；在苏格兰，自2014年以来的所有此类交易都必须进行记录；而In Northern Ireland, registration will not have traceability. In addition, any overseas entity that has sold real estate since February 28, 2022 still needs to provide a statement to the "Company Registry". In terms of penalties, if there is no declaration of beneficiaries, they will face the restrictions on sale of real estate and face up to 5 years in prison. If the information is not accurately disclosed, the maximum fine can be fined 2,500 pounds per day, which is equivalent to 912,500 pounds per year.

It is reported that the bill has been formulated since the Cameron government 6 years ago. With British -Russian relations, Britain began to crack down on "dirty money" investment from Russia's oligarch. According to the statistics of the British National Crime Investigation, the Russian oligarchs in the British market are directly or indirectly invested in unknown funds every year, with more than 100 billion pounds. The British Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement on the 1st that the new real estate registration system will seek to ensure that criminals cannot hide behind the secret shell company.

The Financial Times said on the 1st that Louis Smith, CEO of the British "Company Registry", said that the launch of this registration is a "important milestone" to combat economic crimes. James Green, a real estate agent who engaged in more than 20 million pounds in London, said that for those buyers who want to avoid supervision, but it is unlikely to abandon its overseas wealth flowing into London, the new real estate registration system will make them their Life is more difficult.

However, the implementation of the bill was strongly opposed by Britain. The British "Guardian" said on the 1st that many lawyers, tax experts, members of parliament, and accountant warned that the overseas physical registration system was "full of defects and loopholes" and would not disclose any impact on their luxury homes in the UK. Labor member Margaret Hodg said that the registration system is not "high recruits such as preventing the disadvantages of money laundering in the real estate industry."

The Guardian reports that the government has obvious weak links in the implementation of economic crimes, and there is a possibility of endless delay in implementation. In addition, British financial criminal adviser Baro believes that the British government must require the British "company registry" to accelerate the verification of company information, otherwise overseas owners can still submit false information by opening offshore companies in the UK to escape punishment.

The Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said that, including Russia, many wealthy and companies around the world have legal investment in the British financial market and real estate market, and related information is sometimes not easy to obtain. The Overseas Enterprise Overseas Overseas Overseas Overseas Enterprise Overseas Information Library of England said that only 4 of the 94,000 real estate of overseas companies were registered for Russian companies.

Shanghai Foreign Studies University Shanghai Global Governance and Regional National State Research Institute British Research Center Think Tank Researcher Li Guanjie said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on the 1st that the bill is only targeted at Russian funds, but Britain's policy on China is tough. This bill has a bill. Maybe Chinese people who buy real estate in the UK.

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