KLEPTO CAPITAL: HOW LONDON BECAME A DIRTY MONEY HUB

Kleptocrats and fraudsters of the world are accused of washing their illicit billions in the city. Rachael Burford looks at how we can clean up our reputation as a global laundromat

- Rachael Burford

Where does one of the world’s most successful criminal masterminds go to launder their money? For alleged billionaire fraudster Chen Zhi, the answer was London. From 2019, the 38-year-old Chinese-born businessman called the city his second home. He bought a £12 million mansion on Avenue Road in St John’s Wood, where previous residents have included Sir Philip Green and Rihanna. Meanwhile, Chen was alleged to be lining his pockets through a network of scam centres in Cambodia, which operated online romance scams and fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. Thousands of trafficked and enslaved workers were defrauding billions from people around the world.

"London is a world-leading financial centre, but at the same time, a global hub for illicit wealth and corrupt actors," says Labour MP Phil Brickell as he leads a “dirty money tour” of London. He is the officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and before becoming an MP, he led anti-bribery programmes for NatWest and Barclays. He points down the road to the City, where Chen bought 10 Fenchurch Street - a glistening 15-storey glass-fronted office block - for £95 million in 2019.

Chen was sanctioned by the UK government late last year, alongside his cousin and associate Qiu Wei Ren, after an investigation by the National Crime Agency. The men were accused by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper of being the masterminds behind the “horrific” scam centres, where workers were often beaten and tortured.

The penalties brought to light a property empire comprising 19 properties in some of London's most exclusive neighbourhoods. As well as the St John’s Wood mansion and the City office block, police seized seven flats in Centre Point Tower on Oxford Street and 10 in the Nine Elms development, where residents swim in a transparent sky pool bridging two buildings opposite the US embassy.