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13,000 offshore companies would be hiding UK owners’ information

The government has said almost 13,000 offshore companies holding UK property have failed to declare their ultimate owners and may now face fines and a ban on selling their land.

Martin Callanan, a business minister, praised the introduction of the new register of offshore owners of UK properties, saying it had been “invaluable for tax and revenue services, bringing transparency to opaque offshore trusts often used to obscure assets for tax purposes”.

Lord Callanan also highlighted its revelation that one of the FBI’s most wanted, Dr Ruja Ignatova, known as the Cryptoqueen, has been revealed as the owner of two UK properties via Guernsey companies. According to Land Registry data, these include a £1.9m property in Kensington.

However, he said only 19,510 out of a total of 32,440 registered overseas organisations had declared their beneficial owners – meaning about 40%, or almost 13,000, have not done so.

He said there would now be further investigatory powers for Companies House and the Insolvency Service and investment of up to £20m to tackle money laundering through companies that own UK property.

As the 31 January deadline for companies to register passed, Callanan said: “There is nowhere for the criminals and corrupt elites to hide. We will use all the tools at our disposal, including fines and restrictions, to crack down on foreign companies who have not complied.”

He said unregistered overseas companies are now automatically rejected from registering ownership of any new land by the HM Land Registry. Any UK buyers cannot transfer their title to the deed of any property bought from non-compliant organisations.

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