Money laundering is described, in the explanatory notes to PoCA 2002, as being “… the process by which the proceeds of crime are converted into assets which appear to have a legitimate origin, so that they can be retained permanently or recycled into further criminal enterprise.”
That is to say, the process of cleaning and employing dirty money.
The legal and regulatory framework in the UK includes PoCA 2002 and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer)Regulations 2017 (‘MLR’s’), both of which make provision for criminal and civil liability for money laundering offences.
PoCA 2002, as amended, prescribes several money laundering offences including principal offences of concealing, making arrangements and acquiring, using and possessing criminal property as well as secondary offences of failing to disclose and tipping off. PoCA 2002 also includes the consent and disclosure regime(s) which afford defences to the principal money laundering offences in specified circumstances and offers a suite of civil recovery options.
The MLR’s established the regulatory framework for thousands of businesses in the UK including financial institutions and those seen as gatekeepers to the financial system: auditors, legal advisers, insolvency practitioners, external accountants, tax advisers, estate agents, casinos, high value dealers and trustor company service providers. The MLR’s require businesses to have in place policies, controls and procedures to mitigate and manage the risks of money laundering. The MLR’s enabled supervisory authorities to impose sanctions, including pecuniary penalties and to consider the use of HMRC and FCA powers to commence criminal proceedings.
The key to defending money laundering allegations is early and ongoing expert intervention. In practical terms, this routinely involves deploying a multi-disciplinary team of litigators and consultants including specialist barristers, forensic accountants and industry experts.
The maximum punishment for a person who is guilty of money laundering is a term of imprisonment of 14 years.
The NCA estimates that there is a realistic possibility that the scale of money laundering impacting the UK annually is in the hundreds of billions of pounds.
Anti-money laundering (‘AML’) efforts in the UK are largely based on intelligence and information sharing between the public and private sectors. Various agencies and bodies have been established to encourage this sharing, including the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (‘JMLIT’), a partnership between law enforcement and the financial sector to exchange and analyse information relating to money laundering and wider economic threats and the National Economic Crime Centre (‘NECC’), bringing together law enforcement, justice agencies, government departments, regulatory bodies and the private sector with a shared objective to deliver a step change in the UK’s response to, and impact on, economic crime.
The latest figures, including those contained in the Asset Recovery Statistical Bulletin issued by the Home Office and the Suspicious Activity Report Annual Report published by the NCA indicate that the rate of asset recovery and fund denial to suspected criminals is a fraction of 1% of the total monies laundered through the UK on an annual basis.
Suspicious Activity Reports are the mechanism by which financial institutions and gatekeepers to the financial system alert law enforcement to potential instances of Money Laundering.
The information and intelligence gathered through suspicious activity reports is used by law enforcement to investigate and prosecute instances of suspected money laundering or to pursue civil recovery alternatives.
We can deploy a multi-disciplinary team of expert criminal and civil lawyers to conduct internal and external investigations and devise and execute bespoke litigation strategies to expedite outcomes, minimise reputational damage and protect business continuity.
We benefit from a wealth of in-house expertise in several disciplines including criminal defence, commercial disputes (including allegations of civil ‘fraud’) and regulatory. We also enjoy enduring relationships with leading consultants, including compliance experts, specialist fraud barristers, forensic accountants and industry experts.
We also provide regulatory and compliance advice to individual and business clients in relation to their policies, controls and procedures to mitigate and manage the risks of money laundering, including in relation to the consent and disclosure regime(s)under PoCA 2002.
If you have been notified of an allegation of money laundering or an impending investigation or prosecution into allegations of money laundering it is critical that you contact us as soon as possible.
