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Cleptocracy describes a system in which business success and political power are linked. Political elites exploit their position to divert public wealth by consolidating their power through corruption, clientelism and repression.
No Entanto, a cleptocracia It is not just an internal corruption system. Usually involves a transnational network of political elites and the so -called professional facilitators who work together to extract wealth and design power.
According to the capacity of Cleptocratas To accumulate state resources and escape accountability depends on banks, lawyers, lobbyists, information agencies and public relations companies that provide financial, legal and reputation tools to legitimize stolen wealth.
The book analyzes many cases of professionals who, in the UK, make life easier for elites whose wealth originates in post-Soviet countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Were discovered by The Conversation, Examples of this activity through in -depth case studies that were based on court documents and correspondence with the facilitators themselves.
On numerous occasions, British professionals found gaps in the rules, defeated new measures against the laundering of capital, explored the lack of transparency in universities and in political parties And they put into question the efficiency and effectiveness of the rule of law.
UK properties worth tens of millions of euros have been bought for oligarchs and cleptocrats. And London’s information companies and lawyers have bored against journalists and researchers on behalf of their post-Soviet elite clients.
Political parties, parliamentary groups and some of the main British universities have accepted donations from individuals associated with cleptocracy.
In doing so, they have been indulgent, to the cleptocrats, such as the Catholic Church sold indulgences – offering acquittal for a price.
These services extend the wealtho statute and influence of these elites to the UK and other countries. The phenomenon of “Londongrad”-A nickname that designates the reception of Russian and euro-easitic oligarchs in the British capital-not only refers to the amount of post-soviet money washed there. It includes a much wider offer of reputation social goods as well as political and security services.
Professional facilitators are not limited to moving money and are not limited to providing their services. They create structures that support cleptocracy, incorporating it into the political and economic fabric.
The general framework of nine indulgencesfrom “hiding money” to “silencing critics” is that of regulators outdated by the private sector.
The professions are moved by market incentives, but their Adherence to professional ethical norms is unconscious.
Facilitators are not usually crime complicit. They may be acting below great corruption and usually comply with the law. But in most cases, seem to be aware of those who are acting or deliberately unconscious. Either justify their work with complicated arguments or simply do not make an effective due diligence in relation to their customers.
With the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the British government introduced a large number of sanctions against Russian entities. Also approved two laws of Parliament in 2022 and 2023 to combat Russia’s illicit financial activitybut most of the qualification is not currently considered criminal and cannot be easily eliminated from the legislation.
Also according to the same source, the issue of cleptocracy is indicative of a general self -regulation problem in global financial centers, tax havens e other secret jurisdictions which emerged with the end of the empires in the second half of the twentieth century.
At this point, the old British colonies, such as the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, sought to widen their economies to the services sector, which coincided with the end of the Soviet empire, When the rich and their capital were fleeing Russia and Eurasia.
According to The Conversation, to end Cleptocracy, you need to go beyond fragmented reforms and treat it as the organized criminal enterprise.
It is suggested that “cleptocratic companies” are designated as organized crimethus implying their promoters as part of criminal networks.
Worldwide, there must be transparency on the part of charities, universities and political parties.
