All in all, this is an alarming case study of how UK financial and cultural institutions repeatedly finance and greenwash the reputation of fossil fuel polluters.

UK banks still went ahead and financed the Adani Group’s operations despite active investigations into the conglomerate. And London’s Science Museum accepted £4m from one of its offshoots to sponsor its green energy wing.

Our joint briefing with @ldnminingnetwork.bsky.social and @cultureunstained.bsky.social for last week’s debate covered the various allegations of fraud, corruption and greenwashing against the Adani Group, which has subsidiaries based in the UK.

👇 To find out more about why crypto donations pose a real risk to electoral integrity, check out our briefing paper:

💥 And our Advocacy Advisor @timpicton.bsky.social has covered the topic extensively in recent months, including this piece on crypto donation scandals in Europe:

📢 Alongside colleagues from @transparencyuk.bsky.social and the @ukanticorruptioncoalition.org, we called for crypto donations to be banned last month.

🌍 But this shouldn’t only happen in fraud cases – we urgently need reforms to ensure the overseas victims of corruption are also compensated, as too often these funds are instead pocketed by HM Treasury.

💷 And even when funds are recovered, too often victims are left empty-handed. So it’s great to see the Serious Fraud Office going the extra mile to ensure the recovered funds reach those from whom it was stolen.

🕵️ As this case shows, tracking down the proceeds of crime is really tough work and often requires cooperation with many countries. Our new report Targeting the Untouchables found that only 28% of suspected criminal funds frozen in the UK since 2018 has actually been recovered.

And Bob’s earlier piece on preventing donations from overseas companies.

… a ‘democracy backstop’ limiting political donations to £1 million in any one year…

Previous entries in the 'Bold Ideas' series covered protecting the independence of the @electoralcommission.org.uk …

Today we are also launching our asset recovery tracker where you can examine all the data behind our report for yourself www.spotlightcorruption.org/corruption-a...

We’re calling for:
👉 An #economiccrime fighting fund to reinvest recovered money into law enforcement
👉 A new asset recovery strategy with new mechanisms to target illicit wealth
👉Specialist #economiccrime courts with ticketed judges for high-end money laundering and complex asset recovery cases