On 1 December, the Guardian reported on a study by a US and a UK university which found that criminals including terrorists and tax evaders, as well as government officials subject to sanctions, can easily breach regulations meant to bar them from the international finance system. Researchers emailed 5,000 banks and 7,000 other financial intermediaries in 273 countries and financial jurisdictions in 2020-21 to test compliance with rules meant to combat money laundering; the financing of terrorism; tax evasion; and Magnitsky Act legislation that allows sanctions to be imposed against specified Russian government officials. They also set up 12 shell companies in countries recognised as a low risk for corruption including the UK and the US, and a high-risk including Papua New Guinea and Pakistan, as well as in offshore jurisdictions, such as the BVI.
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