Money laundering in the UK – the courts’ attitude

A recent French Parliamentary Committee report described the efforts of the City of London and UK offshore financial centres to combat money laundering by terrorists and other criminals as “feeble”. Arnaud Montebourg, the report’s main author, further commented that “Great Britain does not cooperate with European countries and offers a totally unacceptable haven for criminal funds”. On 1 December 2001 the Financial Services Authority received authority to institute proceedings for an offence under the Money Laundering Regulations. However, it may be that the perceived relaxed anti-money laundering regime has much to do with the leniency of the courts in dealing with offenders. Michael Grant examines a number of recent rulings by the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) when they have been asked to review sentences imposed for money laundering offences.

Michael Grant • London Guildhall University

The sanction

Under current English Law the money laundering regime is neatly divided into three groups. The first consist of an offence under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 of concealing or transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking. The maximum penalty on conviction is imprisonment for a period of 14 years. The second group consists of offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 .This Act creates four specific offences of assisting another to retain the benefit of criminal conduct; acquisition, possession, or use of proceeds of criminal conduct; concealing or transferring the proceeds of criminal conduct; and tipping off, all which carry a maximum penalty on conviction of 14 years.The third group are civil wrongs committed under the Money Laundering Regulations 1993, which apply to persons carrying on a relevant financial business within the United Kingdom who are required to maintain specific procedures and take appropriate measures to avoid involvement in money laundering. The Money Laundering Sourcebook issued by the Financial Services Authority reinforces this and the wide range of enforcement powers set out in the Enforcement Manual issued by the same body.