In the dock

An MLRO is currently standing trial in Southwark Crown Court for alleged failure to report: if found guilty, the courts are not inclined to be lenient, warns Shula de Jersey of Russell Jones & Walker.

Shula de Jersey is a solicitor in the Business Crime & Regulation Department at Russell Jones & Walker. For further information, please contact her at s.d.jersey@rjw.co.uk or on +44 (0) 20 7657 1766.

Legal exposure

Every person working in the regulated sector has a legal obligation to report suspicious activity that might indicate money laundering. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) broadened the definition of money laundering to encompass the proceeds of any criminal conduct. Under prior legislation, money laundering was limited to the proceeds of indictable crime, drugs and terrorism. However, since the introduction of POCA the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) has significantly increased from 64,164 in 2002 to 228,834 in 2009. [1]