Last month the government unveiled the National Economic Crime Centre which aims to tackle high-level fraud and money laundering, and National Crime Agency (NCA) director general Lynne Owens has urged insurance companies to channel part of their profits into the centre.
Lamenting a lack in resources, Owens said the annual government funding received by the NCA is much lower than the amount allocated to counter-terrorism efforts. Not that she wishes a smaller budget for the UK’s anti-terror programme, but believes a greater national security threat such as organised crime calls for more than just £377 million.
“If you look at the resourcing… it’s massively disproportionate,” Owens told The Sunday Times. “This isn’t an argument that counter-terrorism should be less well resourced, but I am saying that… we have got to recognise that it needs investment if we are going to protect the public from some of the most invasive crimes.
“Terrorist events are awful and they play out very publicly, but many more deaths each year are attributed to serious and organised crime than all the other national security threats combined, including terrorism, national disasters, and state threats.”
Fraud, for instance, is the most common offence in the UK and is estimated to cost every household £255 annually, according to government data. So the launch of the National Economic Crime Centre, which is within the NCA, aims to be a step in the right direction as it comes with a package of measures including new legislation and an enhanced operational response.
“There is a myth that there are no real victims of economic crime, but I have seen first-hand how it can ruin people’s lives,” said Home Secretary Amber Rudd in December. “It is not a victimless crime and so it’s vital we tackle these offences that can leave innocent people destitute, cost the country billions every year, and allow gangs to profit from serious and violent crimes.”
According to Rudd, the measures will significantly improve the ability to tackle the most serious cases of economic crime by ensuring that agencies have the necessary tools and investment in order to investigate, prosecute, and confiscate criminal assets.
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