Inside the sleepy town that's an unlikely hotspot for 'dirty cash' (2025)

With its cosy pubs, medieval parish church and quiet high street boasting a Gail's and a Waitrose, nothing points to Wokingham being a likely destination for the world's dirty cash.

But this sleepy Berkshire town has now been revealed as a surprise hotspot for ‘suspect wealth’ channelled through offshore tax havens.

Nearly £6billion worth of suspicious funds have been used over the last eight years to buy UK property through shell companies registered in Britain's Overseas Territories, new research has revealed.

It comes after a huge money laundering network was exposed yesterday, with Russian woman Ekaterina Zhdanova suspected of being the kingpin of a multibillion-pound money laundering network which helped launder criminal cash obtained by hackers through Britain via drug gangs.

Irish cartel the Kinahans are also accused of using the system, run by two networks called Smart and TGR, to get cryptocurrency in return for cash - while oligarchs placed under sanctions used it to disguise their cash in order to invest in British property.

While the report of areas attracting the highest inflows of suspicious cash is dominated by mega rich honeypots like Kensington, Westminster and Hampstead, Wokingham in Berkshire makes a surprise appearance in fifth place.

An astonishing £146m worth of untracked money has poured into the town of 177,500 people since 2016, making it one of only three non-London locations to feature in the top 10.

The total investment for Wokingham covers just five properties, according to the study by Transparency International. This gives them an average value of almost £30m, despite the average house there selling for £530,000.

When MailOnline visited the town to speak to residents, they were surprised and dismayed that their town had been drawing in murky money.

IT worker Matthew Russell, 34, said: 'This is a quiet market town, nothing dodgy happens here.

'There are lots of new building developments shooting up around the place but I don't know who is behind them.

'I'd be extremely shocked to find out that anything illegal is going on here but I wouldn't let it change my day to day life.'

Emma Morden, 53, from nearby Arborfield, said: 'This is surprising.

'Wokingham is quiet, it's full of coffee shops and expensive restaurants that nobody can afford. Where I live, you can hear a pin drop it's that quiet.

Of the £6bn worth of untracked funds flowing into Britain, more than 90 per cent originated from the British Virgin Islands - which is favoured by super-rich wanting to avoid tax.

These funds have been used to buy494 UK properties since 2018, mainly in London.

Transparency International broke the figures down by Parliamentary constituency, using data from a combination of corporate and land registry data, court documents and leaks.

The Cities of London and Westminster attracted the most investment, with £3.6bn spent on 224 properties, followed by Kensington and Bayswater (£1.1bn), Finchley and Golders Green (£252m), and Hampstead and Highgate (£170m).

Aside from Wokingham, Windsor and Bristol Central were the only other non-London constituencies in the top ten, coming eighth and tenth consecutively.

Wokingham resident Alma Homer, 76, said she had heard stories about Chinese companies buying up developments in the town.

'It seems weird. All of a sudden you have got all these properties shooting up. And nobody knows who's buying them. Who's finding money to invest?' she said.

'There's one development where two or three companies involved have gone bust and the houses they built are just sitting there doing nothing.

'All of a sudden we've got more houses being built than in London. It's never been known before. It's a nice place to live. It's quiet, there's no trouble. Let's hope they don't ruin it.'

Ashleigh Chinre, 18, agreed that the town is a haven of calm, adding: 'It's a quiet town. It seems a relatively calm and nice place for people to come.

'I haven't seen anything dodgy going on round here so I'm quite surprised. It's normally quiet, even on a Saturday night. You have a few bars which get crowded, but they seem quite sedate.

'There is quite a lot of building going on. There's a lot of residential properties and care homes being built. It would bother me that if there was something dodgy going on - you like to think that everything is legal.'

Another resident said: 'This story is very disturbing and quite shocking.

'They've been building everywhere in Wokingham. Every time you look in the local paper there's a new development going up.'

Previous research in 2018 found 237 large scale corruption and money laundering cases which used corporate vehicles registered in the UK's Overseas Territories.

In total, these cases amount to £250bi worth of funds diverted by rigged procurement, bribery, embezzlement and the unlawful acquisition of state assets across 79 different countries.

Researchers identified the British Virgin Islands used in 92 per cent of these corruption cases.

Margot Mollat, Senior Policy Manager at Transparency International UK said: 'Corporate secrecy in the UK's Overseas Territories plays a central role in enabling corruption, money laundering, and the evasion of tax and sanctions on a global scale.

'Our new research highlights the Overseas Territories' role as global hubs for suspicious and illicit wealth. The secrecy provided by these jurisdictions have made them destinations of choice for corrupt individuals seeking to conceal criminal acts and enjoy the proceeds of their crimes with impunity.

'Greater transparency is essential to trace these financial flows, not only within the property sector but in the broader fight against corruption and money laundering.

'But as inaction from these jurisdictions continues, the Government should establish clear transparency standards for British Overseas Territories. At the very least, these should be in line with EU practice, granting journalists, researchers, and academics who can demonstrate a ''legitimate interest'' full access to registers.'

A British Virgin Islands spokesman said: 'The British Virgin Islands is unwavering in its commitment to combating money laundering, tax evasion, and all forms of illicit financial activity. In partnership with the United Kingdom Government, the British Virgin Islands has established a dedicated Sanctions Unit to ensure compliance with international financial sanctions, acting promptly on Financial Sanctions Notices issued by HM Treasury.

'Additionally, we are advancing efforts to enhance transparency by preparing to provide access to beneficial ownership information in cases where a legitimate interest is demonstrated.'

It comes as international law enforcement made 84 arrests, including more than 70 in the UK, after busting a major Russian money laundering network.

It was overseen by Ekaterina Zhdanova, who posed as a glamorous Russian socialite and a legitimate businesswoman - while actually being a ' crypto laundering kingpin.

Zhdanova's double life, seemingly thriving as an entrepreneur opening hotels and businesses across Moscow while secretly running an illicit multi-billion-pound Russian network, was exposed yesterday after the National Crime Agency dismantled her criminal enterprise.

In July 2016, Zhdanova was establishing herself as a socialite whose successful business ventures led to her being splashed across the front cover of a Russian fashion and culture magazine.

Partying with Russia's rich and famous, Zhdanova had entered an exclusive social circle which was a far cry from her humble upbringing in a Siberian town.

But her web of lies soon appeared to unravel after she started taking advantage of her fame by posting on social media about buying 'huge volumes' of cryptocurrency.

In 2023, her luxurious lifestyle, posing with expensive watches and partying with pop stars, came crashing down as the US government sanctioned her for her alleged role in a crypto laundering operation used by Russian oligarchs and ransomware gangs.

But today,Zhdanova, who is custody in France, was revealed as one of the two kingpins of a multibillion-pound Russian money laundering network which helped launder criminal cash obtained by Russian hackers through Britain via drug gangs.

The true scale of the international sting was revealed by the arrest of courier Fawad Saiedi, who was pulled over by Met Police officers while driving southbound on the M1 towards London in November 2021.

Detectives found that Saiedi was carrying more than £250,000 in cash, while a further £24,500 was seized at his home along with a cash counting machine, The Telegraph reports.

Saiedi, who was filmed being questioned by officers in the backseat of a car while being detained, is also believed to have transferred £15,667,720 as part of his role as a courier and collector.

Smart was run by Zhdanova, who built a vast network of contacts in Moscow during a career in financial services.

The whereabouts of the boss of TGR, Russian businessman Georgy Rossi, are currently unknown.

BothZhdanova and Rossi were described as 'interesting characters in their own right' by Sal Melki, the head of illicit finance at the NCA, which led the sting dubbed “Operation Destabilise”.

Mr Melki admitted Zhdanova was 'not your typical' organised crime boss but someone who 'presents herself as a legitimate business person'.