People are not supposed to launder money. Banks are not supposed to let people launder money. Yet, both things keep happening. With a number of recent high-profile mistakes made by financial institutions, the government is cracking down. It’s getting ugly out there. Fines, penalties, and possible prison sentences are all in play. Yet, is this […]

Introduction In May 2013 the government opened public consultations for a proposal on a comprehensive overhaul of the Swiss tax crime regime. Following the government’s February 2013 proposal to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations 2012 and redefine the criteria characterising tax offences under Swiss law, the new proposal takes a further significant […]

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office is gradually lengthening the role of prosecutions for overseas corruption with an important new prosecution, and clear indications that more are in the pipeline. The new case involves Smith & Ouzman, a printing company, and four individuals connected with it. The company and some of its officers are accused of […]

This July 2013report sets out the FCA obligations relating to anti-money laundering, our approach to carrying out those obligations, and the trends and emerging risks in money laundering that they are seeing in the firms they regulate. http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/anti-money-laundering-report

Following the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting, a best practices paper on the use of the FATF recommendations to combat corruption has been published. FATF has identified a number of jurisdictions which have deficiencies in their strategies for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF) and is working with each jurisdiction […]

In the absence of any evidence of legitimate income, and where an individual has a substantial history of theft and drug offences, the High Court has taken the view (Serious Organised Crime Agency v Turrall) that items of property have been purchased with the proceeds of crime. Such items are, therefore, recoverable under s.266 of […]

The Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) had its first day in court in a Bribery Act prosecution on 24 September 2013, with three of four defendants connected with a £23m fraud at Sustainable AgroEnergy plc (“AgroEnergy”) facing charges of making and accepting a financial advantage contrary to sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the Bribery Act 2010. […]

Bank for Anti-Money Laundering Failings On 8 August 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) issued a Final Notice against Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) Limited (“GTBUK”), the fifth in a series of cases arising from the FSA’s 2010 thematic review of banks’ management of higher money laundering risk situations. GTBUK was fined £525,000 (after the application […]