Officials chasing the illicit wealth of corrupt elites and international criminals hidden in the UK plan to use a potent new legal tool to seize the property and assets of dozens of potential targets, documents show.
Britain’s leading fraud prosecutor said that he is combing his files for signs that criminals were hiding stolen assets in the UK. Law enforcement officials have also identified dozens of cases and are preparing two test cases to seize the assets of suspected criminals, according to a report in The Times.
Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) came into force in Britain this week which allow authorities to seize assets if the owner cannot explain how they got them through legal means. It copies similar measures in place in Ireland and Australia and do not require criminal convictions to seize assets.
The UWOs were part of a package of measures introduced last year to deal with the UK’s woeful record of seizing criminal cash, including the estimated £90 billion that is laundered through the UK every year.
That sum compares with only £255 million – of 0.3 per cent – that was recovered from criminals in 2015/16, which in itself was a record year.
The measure is expected to be used to target corrupt African politicians, international drug dealers and businesspeople with links to corrupt leaders in the Middle East and Russia.
“When we get to you we will come for you, for your assets and we will make the environment that you live in difficult,” Ben Wallace, the security minister, told the Times.
Anti-corruption group Transparency International, which had campaigned for the measure has identified five multi-million-pound properties in and around London that police should first consider seizing.
They included properties owned by people with links to Russia, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Pakistan and a senior military official under the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.
Britain is one of the key centres of operations for corrupt powerbrokers to launder and invest their millions hidden behind a complex web of offshore company ownerships, with the aid of lawyers, accountants and financiers who chose to turn a blind eye to the source of the wealth. The UK’s private schools are also popular destinations for the children of corrupt elites.
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The law changes allow police to target previously untouchable corrupt elites since investigations previously would have been too difficult and costly, Nigel Kirby, deputy head of economic crime of the elite National Crime Agency (NCA) said in an interview last year.
The NCA set up an international corruption unit in 2015 that investigates dirty money flowing through Britain. Its former head said that it was investigating more than 20 of the world’s most corrupt politicians. It arrested Nigeria’s former oil minister in 2015.
A government impact statement released a year ago suggested that the UWOs would not be used in their first year of operation, and then only 20 times a year after that.
“Any law is only as good as its implementation and the extent to which UWOs are used will prove how serious the UK government is in fighting corrupt money,” said Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy at Transparency International UK.
“The introduction of Unexplained Wealth Orders must mark the turning point, where Britain removes the red carpet for corrupt individuals and their illicit wealth.”
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
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Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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- Parasite – 4
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
