Labour peer Dame Margaret Hodge has been appointed anti-corruption champion as the Government seeks to stem the flow of dirty money.
Her appointment came as the Foreign Secretary announced up to £36 million in support for the National Crime Agency’s international corruption unit over five years and sanctions targeting the illicit gold trade.
Five people are subject to assets freezes under the sanctions, including British-Kenyan gold smuggler Kamlesh Pattni.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the Government is working to make the UK a “hostile environment for the corrupt and their ill-gotten gains”.
Baroness Hodge of Barking will work with Parliament, the private sector and civil society to clamp down on corruption and organised crime in the UK and overseas, the Foreign Office said.
Dame Margaret said: “After years of campaigning on the issue, I feel privileged and delighted to be able to work as the Government’s champion, combatting corruption and the illicit finance that flows from it, both at home and abroad.
“The time has now come to put an end to dither and delay. We must take determined and effective action and I look forward to playing my part in that work.”
Dame Margaret was MP for Barking from 1994 to 2024 and entered the House of Lords this year.
She has chaired Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax.
Transparency International UK’s director of policy and programmes called her a “tireless campaigner against corruption and advocate for reforms to restore integrity in politics”.
Duncan Hames said: “After almost two years without a champion, Margaret Hodge will face a full in-tray from day one, as she seeks to turn the tide on dirty money and tackle corruption here in the UK.
“Holding government departments to account on their anti-corruption commitments and demanding the highest standards of government itself will be essential if she is to restore confidence in this vital work.”
John Penrose, who held the role under the Conservatives, resigned in 2022, saying Boris Johnson had broken the ministerial code by failing to address the “very serious criticisms” of the leadership at 10 Downing Street.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s war efforts in Ukraine are bolstered by the illicit gold trade, which Moscow uses to launder money and evade sanctions, the Foreign Office said.
Gold trader Anto Joseph has been designated under the sanctions.
One of his companies, Paloma Precious, has bought more than 300 million US dollars worth of Russian gold. The business was designated in 2023.
The Foreign Secretary said: “Corruption poses a real threat to the UK. It enables the activities of dictators, smugglers and organised criminals around the world, making our streets less safe and our borders less secure.
“Take Syria, where Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power this weekend after decades of brutal suppression, financed in recent years by laundering the proceeds from the illegal Captagon trade abroad.
“This government will make the UK a hostile environment for the corrupt and their ill-gotten gains as we put national security as a foundation of our Plan for Change and decade of national renewal.
“That’s why I’m delighted to confirm further funding to the National Crime Agency’s International Corruption Unit and welcome Baroness Hodge as the UK’s Anti-Corruption Champion to bear down on this menace.”
The new funding for the NCA will help the international crime unit investigate cross-border corruption, money laundering and bribery cases overseas.
The unit has frozen more than £441 million worth of assets linked to international corruption since 2020.
A Government-wide anti-corruption strategy will be put forward in 2025.
The sanctions on gold smuggling cover Mr Pattni, who the FCDO says exported gold from southern Africa to launder dirty money, and his sister and brother-in-law.
They also target Belgian gold trader Alain Goetz, who has smuggled gold from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo controlled by armed groups involved in human rights violations.
