LONDON — A British police force investigating bribery and money laundering will be expanded amid fears corruption is threatening U.K. national security. The U.K. government on Monday pledged £15 million to expand its “Domestic Corruption Unit” — a body which investigates corruption in local authorities and banks. The announcement came as ministers published a new U.K. anti-corruption strategy setting out more than 100 measures to tackle bribery, money laundering and intimidation. “Corruption threatens our national security, undermines legitimate business and steals money from working people’s pockets,” Security Minister Dan Jarvis said in a press statement issued alongside the anti-corruption document. “Our landmark strategy will take on the rogue actors and insiders who often exploit their positions of power and manipulate the public purse for personal gain,” he added.   The U.K. government wants to crackdown on what it calls “professional enablers” of corruption and crime, which it claims are sometimes working for the benefit of hostile states, such as Russia, or criminal gangs overseas. A plan to strengthen sanctions against bad actors in banking, accountancy and the law were also set out Monday. There will also be increased vetting for new police, prison officer and border security recruits, and staff moving between organizations to stop organized crime groups infiltrating Britain’s frontline services. Ministers are also considering payments for whistleblowers. The U.K. government will host an illicit finance summit next year to tackle the flow of dirty money. It will examine tools such cryptocurrency, which are being used by criminals, those evading sanctions and hostile states. Margaret Hodge, the government’s anti-corruption champion, will also lead a review into asset ownership in Britain, which will aim to track the flow of dirty money into the country. Transparency campaigners and MPs have tentatively supported the strategy, but some have warned that there are glaring omissions. Andrew Mitchell, the former Tory minister who chairs the APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, said that without “full and proper financial transparency” in Britain’s overseas tax havens, “[the] U.K.’s credibility as a global leader on anti-corruption and economic crime will continue to be undermined.”

The EU is adding Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, according to two EU officials and a document seen by POLITICO. The global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia as a member after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but failed to blacklist it, despite evidence presented by the Ukrainian government, because of opposition from countries in the BRICS group of emerging economies, which includes Brazil, India, China, and South Africa. EU lawmakers called on the Commission many times to do what FATF was not able to. The Commission committed to complete a review by the end of 2025 to get their support to remove the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar from the list earlier this year. POLITICO saw a draft of the Russia decision, which will be an annex to the list. In other internal documents, the Commission had said that the assessment was complicated by the lack of information-sharing with Moscow. The EU already has a wide range of sanctions heavily limiting access to EU financial services for Russian firms. The blacklisting is landing as the EU executive is trying to end Belgium’s resistance to using the revenues from Moscow’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine. The move will oblige financial institutions to strengthen due diligence on all transactions and force banks that have not already acted to further de-risk. The EU has usually aligned itself with FATF decisions, but from this year, it has its own Anti-Money Laundering Authority. AMLA will contribute to drafting the blacklist from July 2027. Dutch top official Hennie Verbeek-Kusters, a former chair of the financial intelligence cooperation body Egmont Group, is set to join the AMLA authority executive board after a positive hearing with lawmakers held behind closed doors, one of the EU officials said. A vote on the appointment is due on Dec. 15, said a third official.

LONDON — The British government is considering a ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties — in a move that could set off alarm bells in Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Farage’s populist party — surging ahead in U.K. opinion polls — opened the door to digital asset donations earlier this year as part of a promised “crypto revolution” in Britain, and has already accepted its first donations in the digital assets. A clampdown by the British government was absent from a policy paper outlining its upcoming Elections Bill, which is being billed as a plan to shore up British democracy. But officials are now considering measures to outlaw the use of crypto to fund U.K. politicians, according to three people familiar with recent discussions on the bill. The government did not deny that the move was under consideration, saying it would “set out further details in our Elections Bill.” Reform UK became the first British political party to accept crypto donations earlier this year. Farage told Reuters in October that his party had received “a couple” of donations in the form of crypto assets after the Electoral Commission — which regulates U.K. political donations — confirmed it had been notified of the first crypto donation in British politics. Reform has set up its own crypto donations portal and promised “enhanced” controls to avoid any misuse. Reform has set up its own crypto donations portal and promised “enhanced” controls to avoid any misuse. | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Farage, who holds some long-term crypto assets, has told the sector he is the “only hope” for Britain’s crypto business as he seeks to emulate his long-term ally U.S. President Donald Trump’s wide embrace of digital currencies. Farage has stressed he was “way before Trump” in publicly backing cryptocurrencies. HARD TO TRACK Despite the absence of a clampdown from initial public plans for the government’s elections bill — which included measures ranging from lowering the voting age to 16 to strengthened powers for the electoral commission — the British government, which is trailing Reform in the polls, has been under pressure to adopt a ban on the practice. Among those who have floated a clampdown are then-Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden, Business Select Committee Chair Liam Byrne, and Phil Brickell, the Labour MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Anti-Corruption and Fair Tax. Transparency experts have warned that the source of cryptocurrency donations can be difficult to track. That raises concerns that foreign donations to political parties and candidates — banned in almost all circumstances under British law — as well as the proceeds of crime and money laundering could slip through the net. Labour’s elections bill is also expected to place new requirements on political parties and their donors. It is set to include a clampdown on donations from shell companies and unincorporated associations, and could force parties to record and keep a risk assessment of donations that could pose a risk of foreign interference. Crypto is an emerging battleground of foreign interference, with Russia and its intelligence services increasingly embracing digital currencies to evade sanctions and finance destabilization — such as in Moldovan elections — after being cut off from the global banking system following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian involvement in British politics has come under fresh scrutiny in recent months after Nathan Gill — the former head of Reform in Wales who was also an MEP in Farage’s Brexit Party — was jailed last month for over 10 years after being paid to make pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament. Farage has strongly distanced himself from Gill, describing the former MEP as a “bad apple” who had betrayed him. Nevertheless, Labour has since gone on the offensive, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging Farage to launch an internal investigation into Gill’s activities. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which has responsibility for the bill, “The political finance system we inherited has left our democracy vulnerable to foreign interference.  “Our tough new rules on political donations, as set out in our Elections Strategy, will protect U.K. elections while making sure parties can continue to fund themselves.”

ATHENS — Greek authorities made dozens of arrests on Wednesday related to Greece’s spiraling farm fraud case, in an investigation led by European prosecutors. Some 37 people suspected of being members of an organized criminal group involved in large-scale agricultural funding fraud and money laundering activities were arrested, and searches were carried out throughout the country, according to a statement by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In a snowballing scandal, the EPPO is pursuing dozens of cases in which Greeks allegedly received agricultural funds from the European Union for pastureland they did not own or lease, or for agricultural work they did not perform, depriving legitimate farmers of the funds they deserved. POLITICO first reported on the scheme in February. Several ministers and deputy ministers have resigned over their alleged involvement in the scandal. The EU has already fined Athens €400 million after finding evidence of systemic failings in the handling of farm subsidies from 2016 through to 2023. Greece also risks losing its EU farm subsidies unless it provides an improved action plan on how it will stop funds being siphoned off into corruption. The original deadline was Oct. 2, but this has now been pushed back to Nov. 4. “The Commission is awaiting the submission of the revised action plan and in the meantime, it continues to be in contact with the Greek authorities,” a European Commission spokesperson told POLITICO earlier this month. Wednesday’s operation centered on a criminal network accused of illegally obtaining EU farm subsidies through false declarations submitted to the organization in charge of distributing EU farm funds in Greece, OPEKEPE. According to the EPPO, in the course of the preliminary investigation, 324 individuals were identified as subsidy recipients, causing an estimated cost of more than €19.6 million to the EU budget. Of these, 42 are believed to be involved in this case and are considered current members of the criminal group, says the EPPO. Most of them appear to have no actual connection to farming or producing, according to the Greek and EU authorities. The EPPO said that, at least since 2018, the group “allegedly exploited procedural gaps” in the submission of applications using falsified or misleading documents to claim agricultural subsidies from OPEKEPE. They are suspected of fraudulently declaring pastureland that did not belong to them or did not meet eligibility criteria. They allegedly inflated livestock numbers to increase their subsidy entitlements. To conceal the illicit origin of the proceeds, they are believed to have issued fictitious invoices, routed the funds through multiple bank accounts, and mixed them with legitimate income. Part of the misappropriated money was allegedly spent on luxury goods, travel and vehicles, to disguise the funds as lawful assets. Greece’s anti-money laundering authority is investigating Giorgos Xylouris, a farmer from Crete and until recently member of ruling New Democracy. Xylouris is one of the key characters mentioned in EPPO case files, under the nickname Frappé (“Iced Coffee”), regarding the OPEKEPE scandal. Some €2.5 million was discovered in his bank accounts during a random inspection, the Greek officials said. Authorities found that Xylouris had failed to submit the required financial documentation and could not justify the large sum. Eight vehicles were also identified in his possession, including a Jaguar luxury car. The case file has been sent to the prosecutors to examine possible violations of anti-bribery laws and an investigation is ongoing regarding whether money laundering has occurred.

PARIS — A French billionaire seeking to use his fortune to promote a hyper-liberal, anti-immigrant agenda was interrogated by police last year as part of an ongoing probe into campaign finance violations by France’s biggest far-right party. The Marseille prosecutors’ office said in a statement that they questioned Pierre-Edouard Stérin, an introverted and media-shy tycoon who made his first millions with the gift card company Smartbox, in June 2024. The interrogation was part of an investigation into €1.8 million worth of loans granted to several National Rally candidates to help pay for campaigns in local elections in 2020 and regional ones in 2021, including contests in major cities such as Lyon and Nice, that the far right ultimately lost. French authorities are looking at whether there is enough evidence in the case, which has been open since January 2021, to bring forward charges related to money laundering and the illegal exercise of banking activities. The investigation was first reported by Le Monde. The National Rally did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Stérin confirmed to POLITICO in a statement that the billionaire had been questioned by police but denied any wrongdoing. “Pierre-Edouard Stérin never participated, directly or indirectly, in illegal campaign financing,” the statement read. “The loans in question, made in a personal capacity, were structured by an expert on political financing and declared.” Individuals may financially support political campaigns, but the practice is strictly regulated in France. A person may loan money to a campaign, but cannot do so “on a regular basis,” according to the French authority responsible for overseeing campaign finance laws. After operating in relative anonymity for years from Belgium, where he lives as a self-confessed tax exile, Stérin recently came out of the woodwork as part of a push to fundamentally reshape French politics to align with this economic libertarianism and social conservatism. The National Rally is in desperate need of those millions, as its leaders have long argued that the party is forced to seek alternative financing because French banks routinely refuse them credit. Such efforts have often landed Le Pen and her allies in the sights of investigators. Earlier this week, the party’s headquarters in Paris were raided in a separate investigation into other potentially illegal loans issued during the 2022 presidential election, the subsequent legislative elections and the 2024 European election. The National Rally and its president, Jordan Bardella, denounced the raid as a political attack on an opposition party. But the list of legal and financial cases surrounding the far-right powerhouse continues to grow. In addition to the Stérin investigation and this week’s raid, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched a probe into the alleged misuse of funds by the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament, of which the National Rally was a member. And earlier this year, Le Pen was found guilty of misusing European Parliament funds and handed an immediate five-year ban on running for public office, effectively barring her from running in the next presidential election unless an appeals court overturns the decision next summer. Le Pen has repeatedly maintained her innocence.

The European Union’s General Court ruled Wednesday in favor of former MEP Eva Kaili, annulling the European Parliament’s decision to block her access to documents about suspected misuse of parliamentary assistant allowances. Kaili — also a key suspect in the EU’s long-running Qatargate corruption scandal — had requested the documents under the EU’s transparency regulation, but in July 2023 the Parliament rejected her request citing concerns that the disclosure would interfere with ongoing legal proceedings. According to the General Court, the European Parliament wrongly applied an EU transparency rule to withhold documents, and rejected the institution’s arguments that releasing them would harm a related court case or violate legal fairness. “The requested documents … were not drawn up for the purposes of the proceedings … and do not contain internal positions of the Parliament relating to that case file,” the Court said. The court explained that the subject matter of the document Kaili requested is different from the subject matter of the case against her. “In those circumstances, access to the requested documents cannot be refused on the ground of the protection of court proceedings,” it said. Kaili, 46, served as a Greek MEP from 2014 and as Parliament vice president from January 2022 until December 2022, when she was arrested on preliminary charges of corruption, money laundering, and participation in a criminal organization as part of the Qatargate investigation into influence operations by foreign nations in Brussels. Days after her arrest, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested the lifting of her parliamentary immunity, based on a report from the the EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) relating to “suspicion of fraud detrimental to the EU budget,” over alleged irregularities in assistants’ salaries. In February 2023, Kaili appealed the immunity request. Her lawyer Spyros Pappas called the prosecutor’s action “unjustified,” arguing that the investigation had already been completed by OLAF and involved “facts dating back to past years.” In February last year, the European Parliament unanimously lifted Kaili’s immunity to allow the EPPO/OLAF prosecution to proceed.

The Czech government on Wednesday survived a no-confidence vote triggered by a bitcoin scandal involving a drug dealer that has thrown the country’s politics into turmoil. Some 98 out of 192 MPs present voted against an opposition motion to topple Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s government — which could have triggered a snap ballot just four months before the country is scheduled to vote in regular elections. By contrast, 94 MPs voted to bring down the government. The no-confidence motion followed a scandal that saw Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek from Fiala’s conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) resign last month after accepting a €40 million bitcoin donation to the ministry from a convicted drug dealer. The cryptocurrency was provided by Tomáš Jiřikovský, who according to the courts ran an illegal darknet market that had drugs for sale, and who had served time in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons. Czech newspaper Deník N broke the news last week that police are investigating the donation. Blažek, whose embroilment in multiple scandals from pressuring judges to meeting a pro-Russian lobbyist earned him the moniker Don Pablo — a play on deceased Colombian drugs baron Pablo Escobar — claims everything he did was “ultra-legal” and that Jiřikovský had donated money as “a form of penance.” The bitcoin affair is likely to further boost the election prospects of the current populist frontrunner Andrej Babiš, leader of the opposition ANO party, who previously governed Czechia from 2017 to 2021. Recent polling shows ANO leading with 31.2 percent support while the governing Spolu (Together) coalition — of which ODS is a part — trails with 21.6 percent. Babiš has called the ODS “a criminal organization” and termed Fiala “the head of the mafia.” Eva Decroix, who has taken over as the new Czech justice minister, said her task will be to restore public trust in the ministry and to ensure the bitcoin scandal is thoroughly investigated. For the government to be overthrown, at least 101 MPs in the 200-seat lower house of parliament would be required to support the motion. The government has a fragile majority of 104 MPs. Fiala’s government has survived four votes of no confidence since it took power in 2021.

BRUSSELS ― The European Union has added Monaco to a list of countries it considers at high risk of money laundering and terrorism financing, putting the ultra-wealthy Mediterranean principality alongside the likes of Syria, Myanmar and Burkina Faso. The European Commission also added Venezuela to the blacklist of high-risk jurisdictions, while removing the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar. Russia was again left off the updated list. The bill was published after almost a week of delay amid growing speculation on the EU executive’s choices, but the draft is exactly the same as was circulated last week and seen by POLITICO. The issue is highly politically sensitive. Last year the Parliament, which like the Council can raise objections to the list, rejected a first attempt to remove the UAE and pushed back against the same proposal pitched behind closed doors by Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque this past January. Lawmakers also pressured the EU executive to include Russia on the list, with the global FATF watchdog having failed to blacklist Moscow last year due to opposition from the BRICS alliance, which numbers Russia among its members. Last week Czech European People’s Party lawmaker Luděk Niedermayer urged the Commission to “seriously consider” blacklisting Russia in internal exchanges seen by POLITICO. The EU executive generally aligns itself with FATF, founded in 1989 by the G7, which is why it also included Monaco on the list of countries that have deficiencies in combating money laundering but have also committed to overcoming them. The EU executive generally aligns itself with FATF, founded in 1989 by the G7, which is why it also included Monaco on the list of countries that have deficiencies in combating money laundering but have also committed to overcoming them. | Sebastien Nogier/EFE via EPA According to the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, millions of euros in illegal funds linked to fraud by Russian oligarchs, as uncovered by Sergey Magnitsky, have been parked in Monaco. Despite reporting on the topic, no proper investigations have been launched. But while Monaco is in, the UAE is out. The EU is competing with the U.S. to do a trade deal with the country. Opposition to its removal softened a bit after it sent written commitments, seen by POLITICO, to strengthen judicial cooperation with the EU and Europol, and following a parliamentary mission to the UAE. But some lawmakers say that’s not enough. German Greens MEP Rasmus Andresen, for example, believes “the UAE has made insufficient progress,” and said last week that a trade deal with the Emirates would allow “criminals to funnel illicit funds back into our financial system.” Meanwhile, the Spanish center right is unhappy with Gibraltar’s removal . Commissioner Albuquerque is expected to meet formally with lawmakers soon to discuss the matter after weeks of informal bilateral meetings to win their support, several officials said. The countries added to the list were Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela. Those removed were Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

A Czech government scandal involving a drug-dealing dark web entrepreneur and millions of euros in bitcoin threatens to help populist opposition leader Andrej Babiš’s prospects in this fall’s parliamentary elections. Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek from Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) resigned Friday in a scandal involving a €40 million bitcoin donation to the ministry — auctioned off by the institution in exchange for cash in a public auction — gifted by a convicted drug dealer. The cryptocurrency came from Tomáš Jiřikovský, who formerly ran an illegal darknet market that had drugs for sale, and served time in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons. Czech newspaper Deník N broke the news last week that police are investigating the donation. Blažek, who is also known as Don Pablo in Czech political circles due to his previous scandals that included attending the party of a pro-Russian lobbyist or alleged corruption related to municipal apartments, said he acted legally, but quit because he didn’t want the current coalition to suffer. “It was so ultra-legal that it couldn’t be more legal,” said Blažek, adding that Jiřikovský might have donated bitcoin to the ministry as a “form of penance.” But the scandal is a boon for opposition election front-runner Babiš, the leader of the right-wing populist ANO party who previously governed Czechia between 2017 and 2021 — and it arrives at a critical moment. Though it is still leading, ANO has been slowly declining in polls over the last few weeks, while the Together (SPOLU) coalition has been rising. Political analyst Ladislav Mrklas from CEVRO Institute in Prague, said the opposition will try to use the scandal for political gain for weeks. “The whole affair broke out at a very inopportune time, just when it seemed that the government parties were finally gaining some ground and their support was starting to rise from the bottom,” he said, adding that it is a “major inconvenience” for the government. Petr Kaniok, from the international relations department of Masaryk University in Brno, said that the coalition managed to dampen the impact of the scandal by having the minister resign. “To put it bluntly: no body, no crime. If Blažek is no longer in government, the opposition will struggle to attack it,” said Kaniok, adding that he does not expect the case to have a major effect — also because Blažek has long been a polarizing figure. Babiš was quick to accuse Blažek and ODS of money laundering and called for the government to resign. “Are you taking people for a joke, Mr. Prime Minister? You were literally laundering drug money! … This is grounds for the whole government to fall! … You’re the most corrupt government this country has ever had,” Babiš wrote in a post on X. The police and the National Headquarters for Combating Organized Crime are now investigating whether the donation came from laundered money.

PARIS — France isn’t getting rid of cash, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin clarified on Friday after telling lawmakers a day earlier that the move would help stop drug trafficking. In an interview with radio station RTL, Darmanin recognized that getting rid of banknotes was unpopular and that the government lacked the “political means” to take a move that would significantly affect the everyday lives of millions of people. Darmanin said a debate on the future of cash would require “a lengthy discussion with French people,” especially to address the concerns of small businesses and older citizens. The 42-year-old added that a presidential campaign — which he is already laying the groundwork for ahead of the 2027 contest — could be the right avenue for such a discussion. A 2023 senatorial report estimated that illegal drug trafficking in France is worth between €3.5 and €6 billion yearly, and that most of this revenue comes from “small daily purchases using small banknotes.” The French state only recovers a few million euros of that amount each year, Darmanin said, adding that other forms of payment —included cryptocurrency — are easier for investigators to track. The right-leaning justice minister, who spent years as interior minister before taking on his new role last December, has long advocated tough-on-crime policies. In the same RTL interview, he also backed the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces to identify individuals wanted by the police.