Money Laundering Bulletin

Colin Holder (+44 (0) 7970 938163, cholder@mliltd.co.uk) is managing director of Money Laundering Intelligence Ltd, www.mliltd.co.uk . Report by Timon Molloy.

For more information about the Anti Money Laundering Professionals Forum, visit www.amlpforum.com Report by Timon Molloy.

On 23 October 2012, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued its response to the deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) consultation [1], along with legislative proposals, which feature as amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill currently before Parliament. DPAs may therefore be introduced in England and Wales as early as next year, write Omar Qureshi and Amy Smart of CMS Cameron McKenna, although they note that the Impact Assessment assumes they will not be in use before early 2014. DPAs will be available for wrongdoing that predates their enactment, so the first agreements could be reached fairly quickly after they come in.

The world has been fighting money laundering in more or less the same way for a quarter of a century now, writes Alan Osborn, and many of those in the thick of the battle are starting to wonder, frankly, whether the game is worth the candle any more.

For further information about the SWIFT (www.swift.com) sanctions testing service, contact Nicolas Stuckens (nicolas. stuckens@swift.com) or Ian Horobin (ihorobin@omnicision. com, www.omnicision.com) Report by Timon Molloy.

A concerted effort by legislators, regulators and law enforcement to address criminal proceeds is beginning to yield results. Gerard O’Dwyer reports on Sweden’s progress.

In Perry and others v Serious Organised Crime Agency [2] and Perry and others No.2 v Serious Organised Crime Agency, write Charles Thomson and Ben Ko of Baker & McKenzie, the Supreme Court allowed the joint appeals brought by Mr Perry, some members of his family, and entities associated with them. The Supreme Court ruled that the High Court does not have the jurisdiction to make civil recovery orders in respect of property located outside of England and Wales. Similarly, notices under disclosure orders requesting information from Mr Perry and his daughters could not be served under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) to individuals outside of the UK. This clarification of the extraterritorial effect of POCA has caused some controversy and has raised questions as to the purpose and efficacy of the civil recovery regime.

I am mightily grateful that both my gender and my creed bar me from his job, writes Sue Grossey, as I would not today be in the shoes of Pope Benedict XVI for all the sacred wine in Rome. Things are not going well for the Pontiff . His former butler Paolo Gabriele has been found guilty of stealing confidential documents and child abuse scandals continue to undermine faith in the church hierarchy. And that’s before we start thinking about the financial side.

Although the US enacted the first anti-money law in the world with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in 1970, the AML compliance field really didn’t come into its own there until the late 1990s. After the events of 11 September 2001, the AML/BSA compliance industry appeared to begin in earnest with many new automatic transaction monitoring systems vendors entering the market, writes Ken Bryant. Here he draws on his experience to trace the evolution of AML compliance standards and best practice in transaction monitoring alongside developing regulatory expectations.

Reporting trends are uneven and the conviction picture mixed in Norway and Finland while Iceland is still dealing with the fallout from its banking collapse in 2008. Gerard O’Dwyer, files this profile of the region from Helsinki.