Britain was just given the world’s highest score for its efforts against corrupt money – but does it really deserve it?

There is a real danger that if we give the government too much credit before the job of combating financial corruption is even nearly finished, it won’t get done at all

Today is international anti-corruption day. At first glance, the UK could be credited with leading efforts to tackle a problem that destroys fledgling economies and breeds global insecurity. That’s certainly what the G7’s watchdog on money-laundering and terror finance seems to think. This week the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gave the UK its highest ever ranking, in a move those of us working to highlight and stop the hundreds of billions of pounds in dirty cash flowing through this country every year watched through our fingers.

So which is it: beacon of financial integrity or city awash with the proceeds of crime?

The truth is that the UK could become that global leader, but it’s nowhere near it yet. It can legitimately point to groundbreaking initiatives it began, which will help tackle corruption at the source – if implemented effectively. It has created the first open data register of the real owners behind companies, brought in measures pushing for accountability for senior bankers, and passed ground-breaking laws which require high profile individuals to explain how they acquired suspect wealth.

These are promising first steps, but no more. They will only be as good as their implementation, and that means putting money and resources behind them. So far the UK has failed to do that – so almost three years on from the Panama Papers scandal that forced the UK to change its approach, these paper policies haven’t worked to stem the tide of dirty cash washing through our banks and property market.

This isn’t just a moral argument. The National Crime Agency describes the scale of the problem as “a strategic threat to the UK’s economy and reputation”. By allowing the criminal and corrupt to launder their spoils through our financial system, we encourage and enable more organised crime and authoritarian regimes who threaten our national security. So fixing it will make us all safer.

This was made brutally clear by the events that led to the UK’s historic move to open up its tax havens. When the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found poisoned by a deadly nerve agent, attention quickly shifted to the suspected dirty money flowing from Russia into the UK. Global Witness analysis at the time revealed that £68bn from Russia has been invested in the UK’s overseas territories, with the British Virgin Isles the second most popular destination for money leaving Russia.

Suddenly, the UK got tough on a problem it had known about for years. Parliament forced the government into requiring its overseas territories to bring in public registers of company owners by 2020 to stop the corrupt using them as a backdoor to the UK’s banking system. In a statement to Parliament, Theresa May said “all the capabilities of law enforcement” would be brought to bear on serious criminals and corrupt elites.

Strong words, but it has not yet put money where its mouth is. And it has not made its crown dependencies like Jersey and the Isle of Man open up in the same way, despite them also being known hotspots for tax evasion and money laundering.

These shortcomings have not stopped the government insisting it’s leading the world in the fight against corruption. At the International Anti Corruption Commission (IACC) in October, the government announced that it is launching a campaign for global beneficial ownership transparency. For this to be taken seriously, the UK must ensure all its jurisdictions play by the same rules, and the measures it brings in have teeth. So far, there seems to be more political interest in claiming the credit for a job half done than political will to do it properly.

If we needed any further reminder of how important this is, we got it this week. The US has just arrested four people alleged to have used our overseas territories – amongst other tax havens – to defraud the US government of millions of dollars, whose names were first revealed in the Panama Papers scandal. Meanwhile Deutsche Bank is accused of processing tens of billions in suspect funds on behalf of its subsidiary Danske, again using secret companies registered in UK tax havens.

There is a real danger that if we give the government too much credit before the job is even nearly finished, it won’t get done at all. The government must hold firm and see this through – it’s the right thing to do and it’s firmly in our national interest.

Ava Lee is a journalist at international anti-corruption NGO, Global Witness