2018.10.13期经济学人翻译参考L5：伦敦是时候整治洗钱问题了
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Leader 5
Dirty capital
黑钱
London’s financial flows are polluted by laundered money
伦敦金融之河受洗钱污染
Time to clean up
是时候整治了
BRITAIN likes to see itself as a leader in the fight against illicit finance and corruption. The government has recently been talking even tougher, as worsening relations with Russia have focused attention on the number of oligarchs who have interests in London. Anyone looking to stash dirty money “should be in no doubt that we will come for them,” warns Ben Wallace, the economic-crime minister.
英国自诩为打击非法金融和腐败的领头羊。近期，英国政府的论调甚至更为强硬，因为英俄关系恶化的焦点是在伦敦有利益牵扯的寡头人数。英国经济犯罪部大臣本·华莱士(Ben Wallace)警告道，任何企图私藏不法资金的人“都该心知肚明，我们是冲着他们来的。”
In fact the record suggests that wrongdoers can sleep easy (see article). The National Crime Agency (NCA) reckons that “many hundreds of billions of pounds” of international money is rinsed through British banks each year, much of it from kleptocrats and their cronies. Almost every big cross-border corruption case in recent years has had a connection to Britain or its palm-fringed overseas territories. British limited-liability partnerships were the vehicle of choice for suspicious clients of Danske Bank, which is embroiled in the laundering of as much as €200bn ($230bn).
Some people in the governing Conservative Party and the City argue that a big clean-up would be harmful just when British finance risks losing its lustre because of Brexit. The more important point is that, in a country which has undergone bail-outs and austerity following the financial crisis of 2008, doing nothing to tackle dirty capital flows could further undermine the legitimacy of capitalism.
执政的保守党和伦敦市区的一些人认为，由于脱欧问题，英国金融业可能走下坡路，一次大整顿将损害国内经济。更为重要的是，继2008年金融危机之后，英国已经经历了紧急救助和财政紧缩，对不法资金流动袖手旁观可能进一步撼动资本主义的权威。
Thames and misdemeanours
泰晤士河与洗钱
London is hardly unique. Other financial centres, including New York, Dubai and Singapore, also wash dodgy cash. The more clean money sloshes around, the easier it is to hide the dirty sort. But London has exceptionally enticing attributes. It handles vast cross-border capital flows. It boasts the English language, good schools and, ironically, a respected legal system (which shields tycoons against the arbitrary plunder they suffer at home). Relaxed rules on ownership are geared towards rich foreigners. Armies of lawyers and public-relations firms specialise in rinsing reputations. Tough libel laws help keep prying journalists and NGOs at bay. On top of all this, Britain has its own network of secretive offshore territories, dubbed its “second empire” by anti-corruption campaigners. London is, in short, ideal for money-laundering.
伦敦并不是个例外。纽约、迪拜、新加坡等其他金融中心也洗黑钱。洗钱窝点合法流动资金越多，越容易隐藏黑钱。但是，相比上述地方，伦敦对黑钱的吸引力非常之大。巨额跨境资金在此流动。得天独厚的英语优势、优秀院校林立，讽刺的是，受人尊敬的法律体系也成了大亨们的挡箭牌，保护他们在其祖国会被"掠夺"的脏款。宽松的所有权规则专为海外富人量身定制。成群的律师和公关公司专擅颠倒黑白。严格的诽谤法让刺探的记者和非政府组织望而却步。此外，英国还有自己的海外秘密基地网，反腐败人士称其为“第二帝国”。简而言之，伦敦是洗钱的天堂。
People give all sorts of reasons not to strangle this golden goose. The ancillary industries that depend on all that wealth would suffer. A clampdown risks scaring away legitimate investment, especially if it is seen as targeting entire nationalities: many Russians own London pads through offshore companies for reasons of privacy or legal tax planning. Some fear it would clobber the property market and the pound, just when a Brexit-bound Britain needs all the investment it can get.
为了不勒死这只金鹅，人们找出五花八门的理由。依靠这些非法资金的辅助行业会遭殃。打击不法资金可能会吓跑合法投资，尤其是当投资者认为打击举措是针对所有国籍人士时，例如，许多俄国人因隐私或合法税务计划的原因，通过海外公司管理伦敦的资金。有些人担心会给房产市场和英镑以沉重打击，而深陷脱欧泥淖的英国正需要一切可能的投资。
But the case for action is stronger. Predictions of severe economic damage from a crackdown are overdone. Russians and Ukrainians hold only 0.2% of total British assets owned by foreigners. Targeting iffy Russian money would reinforce Britain’s efforts to embarrass Vladimir Putin’s intelligence agencies (see article). Providing financial refuge for bent elites fuels corruption in other countries.
但需要采取措施的理由更加充分。打压不法资金带来重大经济损失的预测纯属夸大其词。海外人士拥有的英国资金总额中，俄罗斯人和乌克兰人仅占0.2%。剑指俄罗斯可疑资金能帮英国羞辱弗拉基米尔·普京的情报机构（见文章）。给贪赃枉法的精英提供金融庇护会助长他国腐败之风。
The challenge is less to write new laws than to enforce what is on the books—a common malaise in Britain. This month the first “Unexplained Wealth Order”, which requires targets to show the sources of their wealth, survived a legal challenge from the wife of a jailed Azerbaijani banker. The government rightly trumpets reforms launched after David Cameron, a former prime minister, declared that corruption-fighting should be a priority. In 2016 Britain became the first G20 country to launch a public register of companies’ beneficial owners, designed to shed light on the shell companies behind which wrongdoers often hide. But the system relies on self-reporting. Companies House, a government agency, has neither the powers nor the resources to check what is submitted. The supervision of firms that set up other companies is so weak, and the fines for breaches so paltry—typically £1,000-2,000 ($1,310-2,620)—that it makes the British Virgin Islands look robust. Inevitably, therefore, the honest comply and criminals lie.
解决问题的困难不在于立新法，而在于执行现有的法律，这也是英国的通病。本月，首个《不明来源财富法令》(Unexplained Wealth Order)顶住了一名阿塞拜疆被囚银行家的妻子的法律上诉，该法令要求被调查人解释财产来源。此前，前首相大卫·卡梅伦（David Cameron）将反腐列为首要任务，英国政府抓住时机宣传了一系列改革举措。2016年，英国成为首个建立公共注册体系的G20国家，要公司实际受益人注册，以此来揭露不法分子藏匿的皮包公司。不过要靠企业自我上报。政府机构英国公司注册处（Companies House）既没有能力也没有资源审查上报公司。对于另设有其他公司的企业，监管力度微不足道，违法罚款可以忽略不计，仅约1000-2000英镑（1310-2620美元），这也让英属维京群岛成为了洗钱天堂。因此，难免会出现老实人遵纪守法，犯罪分子谎话连篇的场景。
Worse, law enforcers lack the resources to pursue enough big cases. The NCA’s budget, already stretched, is falling. It has perhaps a few dozen investigators with the skills for complex cases; America and Italy have hundreds. This is not an area where justice comes cheap. On average, a big corruption case takes seven years. Prosecuting agencies need to be able to absorb hefty costs, especially if they lose—and, as oligarchs can afford the best lawyers, that is always a risk. Britain has not taken the lead on a large, cross-border case for years.
雪上加霜的是执法者没有足够的资源来处理大案。英国国家打击犯罪局开支本就不宽裕，还要继续缩减。此外，该局可能只有几十名调查人员有能力处理疑难杂案，而美国和意大利足有几百人。金融领域的案件往往费时费力。处理一起贪污要案平均耗费七年光阴。起诉机关往往需要耗费巨额资金，尤其是败诉，而由于寡头集团能负担起金牌律师，败诉是家常便饭。英国已经多年没有在跨国大案上取得胜诉了。
Devoting greater resources to corruption cases would go a long way towards fixing things. Some of the extra cash should be used to raise investigators’ salaries, which are far below those of their American peers. Strengthening oversight of shell companies and the firms that set them up would also help, as would money for the verification of ownership information. Some of the funding for this could come from an increase in incorporation fees, which are as little as £12. One piece of new legislation would help: a “failure to prevent” law that makes it easier to prosecute senior managers or companies if they fail to take adequate measures against money-laundering. A similar provision on bribery works well.
加大对腐败案件的投入对解决问题大有裨益。其中多余的资金可以给调查人员加薪，他们的工资远低于美国同行。加强对皮包公司及其背后实际控制公司的监管，加大投资核查所有权信息也有将所帮助。这其中一部分资金可能来自上涨的公司注册费，如今相关费用仅为12英镑。新出台的“预防失败”法案将是一大助力，如果高级经理或者公司没能采取得当措施阻止洗钱，控方将更容易提起诉讼。对付行贿可以采取同样的方法。
The fair mile
人间正道
The City matters to Britain. It is a big employer (two-thirds of the jobs are outside London). It generates a trade surplus of 3% of GDP and pays roughly a tenth of the country’s taxes. It is a hub for fintech, and Britain’s smaller firms appear to secure financing more easily than their typical European counterparts do (see Schumpeter). The opposition Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn sees things differently. It makes no secret of its deep hostility to finance. If the City does not demonstrate that its markets are clean and honest, it will be giving the next Labour government a freer hand to act—savagely.
伦敦对英国的重要性不言而喻。伦敦拥有众多工作岗位（三分之二的岗位不在伦敦），其贸易顺差占GDP的3%，税务支出约占全国税收的十分之一。此外，因为伦敦是金融科技中心，所以英国小企业融资似乎比欧洲同行更加容易（见熊彼特专栏）。不过，杰里米·科尔宾（Jeremy Corbyn）治下的工党反对派对此持有不同看法，其对金融业的深切敌意昭然若揭。如果伦敦不能证明本地金融市场的正当合法性，下届工党政府将会更加随意地插手其中，届时迎接伦敦的将是狂风暴雨。
Britain’s response to the threat posed by illicit financial flows has so far been more thundering rhetoric than meaningful action. It is time to put that right.
到目前为止，对非法资金流动带来的威胁，英国政府多是雷声大雨点小。如今，是时候拨乱反正了。
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