The Weekly Round-Up: Dirty money, religious education and victory for Everard campaigners

14 March 2022 by

Historic portrait of Grosvenor Square in Mayfair

In the news:

On Monday, the Independent reported on the words of the Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency of the United Kingdom, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Having earlier tweeted a graph demonstrating that the UK had sanctioned a higher amount of Russian-owned assets in pound-terms than the US or the EU, Labour and Lib Dem politicians responded by pointing out that the graph better demonstrated the UK’s role in storing and laundering money for highly questionable individuals from Russia and elsewhere. Despite the calls for transparency from, for instance, the president of Estonia long before the invasion of Ukraine, the UK and its territories have remained a bastion for billions of pounds of poorly identified foreign wealth, with large numbers of expensive houses in central London standing empty while house prices soar and the number of homeless grows.  

The previously abandoned Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill was suddenly roused from its six-year sleep after the long-anticipated invasion of Ukraine materialised and was fast-tracked through the Commons this week. The new Bill seeks to strengthen Unexplained Wealth Orders, which may require individuals to prove that assets were obtained through legitimate means. More importantly, the Bill also seeks to create a publicly available register identifying the beneficial owners of overseas entities that hold land in the UK. However, legitimate concerns surround the prospective effectiveness of the new measures, considering the historic failures of Companies House to verify basic information supplied to it in the past, the perfectly legal ways of avoiding the legislation, such as breaking up ownership of properties or introducing further intermediaries, and the underfunding of the National Crime Agency to enable the genuine pursuit of evaders. On Thursday, the latest Law Pod UK podcast featured 1COR’s Rosalind English talking in greater detail to writer Oliver Bullough on this issue.

In other news:

  • Reported on Thursday, a poll of 21% of all judicial office holders revealed that one in twelve judges or magistrates have experienced harassment or bullying in the last twelve months, with the majority of the harassment stemming from the bench itself.
  • The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that some three-million now dead people can participate in the multi-billion pound group action against Mastercard, for its alleged breach of competition law by charging ‘interchange’ fees to retailers which were then often passed on to consumers.
  • On Wednesday, the Catholic archdiocese of Southwark banned a visit to John Fisher boys’ school in Purley by gay author Simon James Green, and removed governors who supported the event.

In the courts:

  • On Tuesday, the High court dismissed the applications of the Claimant in SMO (A Child) v Tiktok Inc & Ors (Rev1) [2022] EWHC 489 (QB) . The child claimant, represented by the former children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield is attempting to claim against the tech giant TikTok for the misuse of personal data of children. Lawyers for the claimant had six months to serve the claim form, but delayed efforts to uncover the estimated time to serve TikTok entities in China until the last minute, when it was revealed that they would need additional time. Litigation, however, will be ongoing.
  • In Leigh & Ors v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2022] EWHC 527, the original organisers of the vigil for Sara Everard held in Clapham Common scored a victory over the Metropolitan police, after the High court ruled on Friday that the police had failed to conduct an adequate proportionality assessment of the health risks of holding a gathering weighed against the Articles 10 and 11 rights to freedoms of expression and protest.

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Aarhus Abortion Abu Qatada Abuse Access to justice adoption ALBA Allison Bailey Al Qaeda animal rights anonymity Appeals Article 1 Protocol 1 Article 2 article 3 Article 4 article 5 Article 6 Article 7 Article 8 Article 9 article 10 Article 11 article 13 Article 14 Artificial Intelligence Asbestos assisted suicide asylum Australia autism benefits Bill of Rights biotechnology blogging Bloody Sunday brexit Bribery Catholicism Chagos Islanders Children children's rights China christianity citizenship civil liberties campaigners climate change clinical negligence Coercion common law confidentiality consent conservation constitution contempt of court Control orders Copyright coronavirus Coroners costs court of appeal Court of Protection covid crime Cybersecurity Damages Dartmoor data protection death penalty defamation deportation deprivation of liberty Detention diplomatic immunity disability disclosure Discrimination disease divorce DNA domestic violence duty of candour duty of care ECHR ECtHR Education election Employment Employment Law Employment Tribunal enforcement Environment Equality Act Ethiopia EU EU Charter of Fundamental Rights EU costs EU law European Court of Justice evidence extradition extraordinary rendition Family Fertility FGM Finance football foreign criminals foreign office France freedom of assembly Freedom of Expression freedom of information freedom of speech Gay marriage Gaza gender genetics Germany gmc Google Grenfell Health high court HIV home office Housing HRLA human rights Human Rights Act human rights news Huntington's Disease immigration India Indonesia injunction Inquests international law internet Inuit Iran Iraq Ireland Islam Israel Italy IVF Jalla v Shell Japan Japanese Knotweed Judaism judicial review jury trial JUSTICE Justice and Security Bill Land Reform Law Pod UK legal aid legality Leveson Inquiry LGBTQ Rights liability Libel Liberty Libya Lithuania local authorities marriage Maya Forstater mental capacity Mental Health military Ministry of Justice modern slavery monitoring music Muslim nationality national security NHS Northern Ireland nuclear challenges nuisance Obituary ouster clauses parental rights parliamentary expenses scandal Parole patents Pensions Personal Injury Piracy Plagiarism planning Poland Police Politics pollution press Prisoners Prisons privacy Private Property Professional Discipline Property proportionality Protection of Freedoms Bill Protest Public/Private public access public authorities public inquiries public law Regulatory Proceedings rehabilitation Reith Lectures Religion RightsInfo Right to assembly right to die right to family life Right to Privacy Right to Roam right to swim riots Roma Romania Round Up Royals Russia Saudi Arabia Scotland secrecy secret justice sexual offence sexual orientation Sikhism Smoking social media Social Work South Africa Spain special advocates Sports Standing statelessness Statutory Interpretation stop and search Strasbourg Supreme Court Supreme Court of Canada surrogacy surveillance Syria Tax technology Terrorism tort Torture travel treaty TTIP Turkey UK Ukraine UK Supreme Court unduly harsh united nations USA US Supreme Court vicarious liability Wales War Crimes Wars Welfare Western Sahara Whistleblowing Wikileaks Wild Camping wind farms WomenInLaw YearInReview Zimbabwe
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