TheUK Companies
House registerof company directors is full of
disqualified directors, money launderers and terrorists, according
to a new study.
Data management firm Datanomic embarked on a project to screen
the Companies House register on behalf of World-Check, which runs a
global database of high-risk individuals and organisations.
The aim of the project was to identify the growing number of
high risk individuals registering and operating businesses in the
UK.
The project involved screening 6.8 million names of active UK
companies and their directors and secretaries using Datanomic's
Sanctions & PEP Screening system against World-Check's database
of 750,000 high-risk individuals and businesses, including
politically exposed persons, money launderers, fraudsters,
terrorists, sanctioned entities and 12 other high-risk
categories.
The results found 3,994 exact matches of high-risk individuals
found to be registered in the UK.
World-Check found 1,504 disqualified directors running current
UK companies, despite the existence of the
Register of
Disqualified Directors.
Many of these disqualified directors are currently operating
companies from prison.
The screening also revealed 154 individuals involved in
financial crime, 13 individuals who are either wanted by Interpol
for terrorism or associated with terrorist groups and activities,
37 narcotics traffickers, nearly 1,000 domestic and foreign
politically exposed persons, and hundreds of individuals from many
other high-risk categories.
In addition, a further 27,000 near matches was produced from the
initial scan, which are currently undergoing further
investigation.
World-Check has forwarded its findings to the relevant
enforcement authorities.