By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor
Labour Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has claimed that the Government’s abject failure in dealing with UK-administered tax havens has meant that the super wealthy can launder money, with impunity.
Allowing the laundering of money through London has ramped up house prices as the dodgy money is invested in bricks and mortar in an attempt to clean up the cash.
Khan claims said:“My worry is London is the world’s capital for money laundering and we have people from around the world laundering money through London’s property market leading to hyper inflation in property.
“What possible reason could there be to buy a property using an offshore company?
“What possible reason could there be to buy a property from a tax haven? And that’s why what the government needs to do is ensure there’s transparency in relation to property purchases in London.”
Khan believes that he does not have the power to stop the laundering if he becomes mayor, but the Chancellor and the PM could step in to sort out this murky world.
Khan said “The Mayor of New York has the powers to make transactions transparent at the moment I don’t have that power.
“So I am calling on David Cameron and George Osborne to make sure there is transparency on property transactions.
“It’s unacceptable and David Cameron had the audacity to go to Singapore last year and the lecture them on the importance of transparency but there’s been no action here.
“If you buy a property in New York the people behind the company have to be named.
“The Land Registry in the UK should make sure that everybody who buys a property should be named.”
Khan is hoping to win the race to become mayor on May 5th against his main rival super rich Tory Zac Goldsmith. One the same day Scotland, Wales and local councils in England also go to the polls, in a major test of Corbyn’s leadership.
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .