Indulging Kleptocracy

Indulging Kleptocracy achieves the extremely rare feat of marking a major advance in the scholarly study of corruption, while at the same time shedding a harsh light on the seediest side of the UK's political economy. A work of masterly investigation, the book exposes not just a failure to stem a tide of dirty money washing through Britain's institutions, but the active and on-going complicity of many in the political establishment, the financial sector, the professions, and think-tanks and elite universities in aiding and abetting foreign kleptocrats. * Jason Sharman, University of Cambridge and King's College, Cambridge *
This is an extraordinarily important book coming at a crucial time. It is a vital primer for policymakers, politicians, and campaigners to understand how the UK has become one of the world's most respectable enablers of kleptocracy. And it is a wake-up call for all of us to hold enablers and the institutions that facilitate them to account. * Susan Hawley, Executive Director, Spotlight on Corruption *
Executive Kleptocracy is a global problem, but it has very British causes. Heathershaw, Prelec, and Mayne have identified a hard truth that many of our politicians have shied away from--we have rolled out the red carpet out for any crook, oligarch, or kleptocrat with a few million to spend and gleefully served as a one-stop shop for anyone looking to launder ill-gotten gains or murky reputations. This is an important analysis of how dirty money has flowed into the UK, and why this is catastrophic not just for the impoverished nations it is being stolen from, but also for the British cultural, economic, and political institutions it undermines. * Margaret Hodge, Former Minister of State for Employment of the United Kingdom *
With great analytical nuance and ethnographic skill, Indulging Kleptocracy recasts our assumptions about how transnational kleptocracy operates within the zones of legal ambiguity created by the globalization of financial and legal services. Far from being marginal players for distant autocrats, the book persuasively shows how today's professional enablers, through their modern-day indulgences, have forged the kleptocratic networks that thrive in the UK and across the West. * Alexander Cooley, Barnard College, Columbia University *
A brave and rigorous book, Indulging Kleptocracy reveals an entire system of professional support that wraps around wealthy corrupt actors, lifting them up within business, social and political circles, and legitimizing their interests. As the authors describe with great clarity and urgency, this system has grown so large and so unchallenged that it now threatens the integrity of our economies and our democracies. Nuanced, fair and immensely readable, this is essential reading for our time. * Alexandra Gillies, Director, Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) *