UK failed in seizing assets of 'despots': Report

The UK government has largely failed in recovering the assets of individuals and rulers linked to corruption, including those challenged by Arab Spring uprisings, a report by Transparency International Uk (TI-UK) said.

A $12.4mn house owned by the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is the only "illicit asset" recovered by British authorities from political elites of the Arab Spring states.  

The group, which aims to combat corruption in government, business and civil society, said assets of corrupt foreign officials in the UK are estimated to be in the millions of pounds.

TI-UK voiced support for Unexplained Wealth Orders, a provision in a legislation that would make it easier for law enforcement to deal with such wealth.

The organisation argues that corruption was a leading force behind the demonstrations that unfolded across the Middle East, starting in Tunisia in 2011.

The report, dubbed "Spring Cleaning", points to massive discrepancies between the personal worth of the embattled and deposed leaders of Syria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, estimated to be in the billions of pounds, and the relatively modest income for the heads of states in those countries.

For example, the report says Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his associates have up to $6.5b, much of which is laundered through foreign investments, including multiple properties in London. However, the UK has only frozen $124mn in Syrian asset without seizing it.

"The UK is a global financial hub with trillions of pounds worth of transactions going through it each year. Hidden within these transactions is a significant amount of illicit wealth laundered from overseas," the report reads.

According to IT-UK, Arab Spring uprising resulted in billions of pounds being laundered across the world.

"Due to its role as a global financial hub, a significant proportion of these laundered billions is likely to have flowed through the UK," the report says.

Duncan Hames, director of policy at TI-UK, urged the government not to be complicit in allowing "dictators" to secretly stash their wealth.

He added that speaking out against human rights violations will sound hollow if the UK continues to act as a "safety deposit box for despots".

"It is astonishing that in the almost six years since the Arab Spring protests began, just one single house has been recovered that was linked to corruption by political elites from these regimes," Hames said in a statement. "The current flaws in the UK system invites those struggling for human rights and democracy to view our real estate and financial sectors as facilitators of their suffering."

He said the cross-party support for Unexplained Wealth Orders is encouraging.