British lawmakers moved a step closer to adopting new rules to allow the government to implement sanctions more quickly and require overseas buyers of property to publicly register their true owners as Britain seeks to put more pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine . The Economic Crime Bill is a response to pressure on the British government to tackle money laundering and root out hidden assets by Russian oligarchs in the country. The proposed legislation was revised late on Friday amid the pressure. The bill also followed the scrapping last month of Britain’s “golden visa” programme that fast-tracked residency for foreigners who agreed to invest at least £2 million (US$2.6 million) in the country. “We want to go after the dirty money and crack down harder on those who violate our financial sanctions and quite frankly violate our country,” Home Secretary Priti Patel told the House of Commons on Monday. “Putin and his brand of thugs must not be allowed to hide their wealth in the UK,” she added. “This is for the sake of ordinary Russians robbed of their wealth, as for the sake of our country and the West more broadly.” The new rules were passed by the Commons following an expedited debate and are expected to move quickly through the House of Lords, where there could be additional amendments. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he expected the legislation to receive royal assent “within days”. The British government plans to adopt additional measures – including increasing the ability of authorities to pursue cryptocurrency assets from criminal activity and reforming Companies House, Britain’s business registration agency – through a separate bill. As part of the measures approved on Monday, foreign buyers would be required to disclose their ownership of British properties within six months of a purchase. The new registry also would require overseas individuals to disclose their ownership retroactively for the past 20 years. Owners who fail to do so could face fines and up to five years in prison for non-compliance. The opposition Labour Party called for the new registry to require disclosure within 28 days, saying any longer would give targeted oligarchs too much time to move their assets. “Many of those measures, we know, should have happened years ago,” said Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary. “Some that we need – and have long been promised – are not yet before us … There is even more imperative on all of us now to make sure not just this bill passes, but also that the subsequent economic crime bill that we so badly need is brought forward as quickly as possible.” London has been a popular spot for the world’s wealthy to park assets in properties in recent years, often making purchases through shell companies that kept the true buyers anonymous. It is not just Russian buyers. Data from the Office of National Statistics showed that Hong Kong and Chinese buyers invested £7.69 billion in the London property market in 2019, making it one of the most popular destinations globally for Chinese property investment. But there has been a growing resentment in recent years about the amount of foreign money flowing into London and other parts of the country. Britain is facing a shortage of affordable housing and some wealthy parts of the capital are referred to as “ghost neighbourhoods” because of the numbers of homes that sit empty as their owners live outside the country. The average British home price rose 10.8 per cent in December to £275,000, with average home prices topping £521,000 in London, according to data from the Land Registry and the Office of National Statistics. Opposition leaders and Conservative Party backbenchers called for even stiffer requirements than the measures passed by the Commons on Monday, saying Johnson’s government trailed behind the European Union and the United States in adopting sanctions against some wealthy oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. Britain has implemented sanctions against more than 300 individuals and businesses over the Ukraine invasion in recent weeks, including freezes on the personal assets of Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The House rejected an amendment proposed by Conservative MP and former minister David Davis to allow the immediate freezing of the assets of a person facing an investigation before a decision on sanctions is finalised. “We should not kid ourselves. This is not an economic crime bill,” Davis said. “It’s an economic war bill and it is a war that the liberal democracies cannot afford to lose.”