Ben Wallace: Football clubs involved in money laundering

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The study applauded our resilience to organised crime but said the openness of the economy means we are vulnerable to huge flows of illicit cash. Researchers said there is an “apparent lack of political will” to tackle the problem but the Magnitsky-style sanctions regime – to crackdown on offenders, seize their assets and ban them from the country – is a “move in the right direction”.

The Global Organised Crime Index report said: “The UK is a global financial centre with an extremely open business environment. These strengths also leave the country vulnerable to financial secrecy, money laundering and other forms of economic crime.”

The report comes as the National Crime Agency director-general Dame Lynne Owens and Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle signed a new agreement to bolster Britain’s fight against international gangs. British officers will continue to be based in the Hague headquarters of the EU crime-fighting agency and have access to its resources.

Dame Lynne said: “This arrangement with Europol supports our continued work to tackle the full range of crime threats facing the UK and our European neighbours.”

But the Global Organised Crime Index said: “On paper, the UK has an extremely robust anti-money laundering framework with advanced legislation that exceeds international standards. In practice, the recovery of illicit funds remains sporadic and largely ineffective.”

Overall, the index, from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, ranks us as the eighth most resilient country to organised crime and sixth in Europe.

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