https://phys.org/news/2025-02-powerful-legal-financial-enable-kleptocracy.html Phys.org Topics * Week's top * Latest news * Unread news * Subscribe [ ] Science X Account [ ] [ ] [*] Remember me Sign In Click here to sign in with or Forget Password? Not a member? Sign up Learn more * Nanotechnology * Physics * Earth * Astronomy & Space * Chemistry * Biology * Other Sciences * Medical Xpress Medicine * Tech Xplore Technology [INS::INS] * * share this! * 2 * Tweet * Share * Email 1. Home 2. Other Sciences 3. Political science * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------- February 3, 2025 The GIST Editors' notes This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked trusted source proofread Powerful legal and financial services enable kleptocracy, research shows by University of Exeter criminal legal system Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Powerful legal and financial service industries are enabling kleptocracy and corrupt elites to operate with relative impunity, a new study shows. The research details how "enablers" from these industries exploit deregulation and the under-enforcement of the law to game the system. They can offshore their clients' wealth, and enhance their reputations and influence via philanthropy, political donations, and the use of the UK's punitive libel regime. Most of this "enabling" is likely to be non-criminal, given the very few convictions despite the widely acknowledged extent of kleptocracy. These services --or professional indulgences-- also include the explaining of kleptocratic sources of wealth and concealing of ownership. "Indulging kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption", by John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec, and Tom Mayne, outlines how kleptocracy is creating moral and economic problems. It impoverishes the global south and undermines institutions in the global north, eroding faith in democracy by empowering corrupt elite business-political networks in global politics. Professor Heathershaw said, "Kleptocracy requires help--enabling--from legal and financial professionals. This can be licit and illicit, willingly complicit, negligence or deliberate corruption. It is important to shed light on dangerous patterns of corruption, break the system of indulgences and stymie the globalization of kleptocracy." [INS::INS] The book outlines the important relationship between illicit (all that which is criminal, unethical, and noncompliant) and the licit (all that which is lawful, ethical, and compliant according to professional standards) because those in service "cross the frontier" at the wishes of their clients. It is at this boundary of il/ licit that the bulk of work is done. The book explains the impact of the emergence of these blurred boundaries and network ties. Professor Heathershaw said, "The UK has become an entrepot for the corrupt and a market for short-term capital." The book contains nine case studies of corruption and kleptocracy, and each of these contains a variety of professional service providers. It outlines the historical and contemporary political context of the UK's kleptocracy problem in which demand for its enabling services has emerged. The researchers have previously published a database which contains 99 cases of property purchases worth more than PS2 billion and made over the period from 1998 to 2020 on behalf of the elites of Russian and Eurasian states. All have completed residential real estate transactions in the UK, many using complex offshore structures to conceal either uncertain beneficial ownership or dubious sources of wealth. The book shows there are three mechanisms of transnational kleptocracy--incumbency, alliance, and enabling. While incumbency and alliance both matter for certain indulgences such as explaining away suspicious wealth and avoiding the threat of individual sanctions, these are less powerful than the enabler effect. Provided by University of Exeter Citation: Powerful legal and financial services enable kleptocracy, research shows (2025, February 3) retrieved 21 February 2025 from https://phys.org/news/ 2025-02-powerful-legal-financial-enable-kleptocracy.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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Who falls for misinformation and why Feb 5, 2025 [gif] Global social media engagement trends revealed for 2024 election year Feb 5, 2025 Load comments (0) Get Instant Summarized Text (Gist) Legal and financial services facilitate kleptocracy by exploiting deregulation and weak law enforcement, allowing corrupt elites to offshore wealth and enhance influence through philanthropy and political donations. This often non-criminal "enabling" blurs the line between legal and illicit activities, undermining global institutions and democracy. The UK is highlighted as a hub for such activities, with complex structures concealing ownership and wealth sources. This summary was automatically generated using LLM. Full disclaimer Let us know if there is a problem with our content Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. 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