Government Admits Incompetence – Investor Golden Visas Suspended Over Money Laundering

This is an interesting admission from the current UK government – they’re incompetent. They’ve decided that the investor golden visa system must be suspended over worries concerning money laundering. This is a system whereby rich folks can promise to invest some money in the UK and they get a visa to come to the UK. Seems reasonable enough, we let in the people who make us richer by investing here. The problem is that they’re worried that some of this money might have been stolen, sourced by tax avoidance, all that sort of stuff.

So, the UK government now admits that it cannot actually work out where peoples’ money comes from. Which is an interesting admission of incompetence isn’t it?

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]’Golden visas’ for super-rich foreign investors suspended in crime crackdown
The Home Office pauses Tier 1 visas which foreign citizens investing £2m or more in the UK could get within three weeks.[/perfectpullquote]

It’s worth noting what government does claim to have the competence to do. For example, it seems to know what medical treatment each and every one of us should have, the detailed pay levels of the 1.3 million people in the NHS and so on. But it can’t work out whether Mr. Djugashvili made his cash by oppressing people?

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Tier 1 investor visas were introduced in 2008 to encourage rich people from outside the EU to invest in the UK. A £2m investment bought a visa and indefinite leave to remain after five years. But concerns were raised the scheme was being used to launder money. [/perfectpullquote]

That same government claims the ability to know where all the train sets should run to.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Investments of £2 million, £5 million or £10 million can be made in gilts, or government bonds, or in British businesses, in return for permission to apply for permanent residence in five, three or two years respectively. Applicants can then apply for British citizenship, which some believe is the ultimate goal for wealthy overseas migrants. Critics of the route say that it can be exploited as a tool to launder the proceeds of corruption and may already have led to substantial amounts of wealth stolen from Russia and China being laundered in Britain. [/perfectpullquote]

That same government claims to know what portion of the population will benefit from a university degree.

And yet they’re now saying that they can’t work out if a foreigner is a bad ‘un or not.

You know what? We should believe them. And at the same time not believe their other three or many claims of competence.