UK-Australia joint statement from the Illicit Financing Co-ordination Dialogue
Published 25 July 2023
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Illicit financing bolsters autocratic regimes, fuels the lifestyles of kleptocrats and corrupt elites, and facilitates terrorism and state threats. It is the lifeblood of transnational, serious and organised crime and fuels the illicit drug trade, ultimately undermining democracy and the international rules-based order.
The United Kingdom Home Office and the Australian Attorney General’s Department formalised our joint commitment to combat illicit financing with the signing of the UK-Australia Declaration to Combat Illicit Finance in August 2022. Under this declaration, we undertook to host an annual UK-Australia Illicit Financing Co-ordination Dialogue to ensure alignment on key illicit financing policy priorities. The inaugural dialogue was held in London from 15 to 16 June 2023, and brought together senior and working level officials from our respective policy, law enforcement, intelligence, and customs agencies.
We stand with our international partners to condemn Russia’s illegal, immoral invasion of Ukraine. We reiterate our strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will continue to empower Ukraine to resolve this conflict on its own terms. Russia’s war has highlighted the extent to which illicit finance emanating from high-risk jurisdictions impacts the global community.
To this end, we discussed opportunities to enhance the integrity of international financial flows through increased beneficial ownership transparency with the aim of preventing the abuse of complex corporate structures by malign actors and criminal networks to fund illicit activities. Australia and the United Kingdom shared our collective experiences and progress in improving corporate transparency, and discussed how to champion robust international transparency standards and publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership.
Following the money and deploying effective asset confiscation measures to turn off the flow of illicit funds are among the most effective ways to disrupt and degrade criminal networks. We discussed ways to strengthen global standards in relation to asset recovery and shared best practices and experience to more effectively identify, trace, restrain and confiscate the proceeds and instruments of crime.
Australia and the United Kingdom discussed the scourge of grand corruption, and how best to use tools at our disposal to hold corrupt officials to account and to restrict the enabling environment in which corruption takes place. We discussed opportunities to support global efforts to fight corruption and assist those who are harmed by corruption, and noted the role of civil society in our anti-corruption efforts. These stakeholders play a crucial role in combatting corruption.
Australia and the United Kingdom have a long history of co-operation to counter illicit financing and related threats. In order to deepen this co-operation, and recognising the benefit of this dialogue, we agreed to continue the dialogue with its next iteration to be hosted by Australia in 2024, as we work to stem the global flow of illicit funds together.