Called to account

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.

AML: is it about stopping dirty money flows or is it little more than an administrative box-ticking exercise? Professionals at the banking frontline would certainly like to do more of the former and there are people outside the sector who can help. Colin Holder is one: a former detective with the Metropolitan Police, he wrote the fraud pages on their website back in 2001, which, crucially, included a ‘Contact us’ email address. “And it worked, I immediately started receiving leads and we built cases on the back of the intelligence.” Even after he retired, the messages continued to come to him; he was someone the sources – “often ex-law enforcement but a real assorted mix, all over the world” – could trust. “I effectively became the conduit to law enforcement agencies worldwide for intelligence on stolen credit cards and West African-style ‘419’ frauds,” says Holder. He reckons that in all he’s passed somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000 stolen credit card details to UK authorities: “I must have sent them 100,000 so far this year.”