LABOUR has accused the Government of dragging its feet on a new register of overseas property which could expose the British assets of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell quizzed Chancellor Philip Hammond on how much regime figures had stashed in the UK but was unable to get a firm answer.
He said: "It was disappointing that the Chancellor was not aware of the value of Syrian assets in the UK. But it doesn’t have to be this way. He could accelerate the introduction of the full public register of the real owners of UK property, as Labour has called for.
“It is concerning that the Government has dragged its feet on this issue and delayed the implementation of the overseas property register, weakening the ability of our authorities to tackle corruption.
“According to international reports, the UK is recouping far less from individuals linked to the Syrian regime in corrupt assets than other countries."
Mr Hammond was also urged to take action on Scottish limited partnerships, many of which have been linked to Russia, Syria's ally. The Tories, under pressure from the SNP and after a three-year investigation by this newspaper, have said they will tackle abuse of the entities, dubbed "Britain's home-grown secrecy vehicles" by Transparency International.
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP's economy spokeswoman, said 172 partnerships had been registered as belonging to Russian individuals this year.
Labour's shadow Treasury minister Anneliese Dodds added no fines had been issued against any non-compliant partnerships, which could have raised £2.2 billion.
The issue was raised at Treasury questions by Ms Dodds, who said: "Despite promising to tighten up on Scottish limited partnerships, not a single non-compliant SLP appears to have been fined, which could have raised up to £2.2 billion.
"When will SLPs be banned, and what action is the Government taking on other shell companies to stop tax fiddling and money laundering?"
Chancellor Mr Hammond said legislation was in place "to deter the kind of activity that she's referring to".
He added: "The absence of fines shouldn't be taken as an indication of the absence of activity.
"As she will know, HMRC always seeks first of all to deter non-compliant behaviour before it moves into hard compliance.
"But if I may, I will write to her with a more detailed answer on the very specific point about Scottish limited partnerships."
Ms Blackman also quizzed the Chancellor on SLPs, saying she was concerned he could not talk about tangible action to tackle them.
She added: "There were 2,800 Scottish limited partnerships registered last year. Only 1,100 of those have registered persons of significant control.
"That is a very low percentage. Of those 1,100, 172 are registered as belonging to Russian individuals.
"Given all that is happening just now, it is absolutely vital that the Chancellor takes urgent action on this. Not just a letter at some point in the future, this needs to happen as soon as possible."
Mr Hammond replied: "I'll ensure that she gets the letter as soon as possible.
"But it's right to focus on groups that are using structures for non-compliance or purposes that we would wish to deter, and HMRC will always continue to do so."
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