15 January 2019
Working in partnership: a new public/private approach to tackle economic crime
2018 saw a major drive across government to tackling illicit finance and economic crime on the basis that “corruption and economic crime undermines our economy, damages our international reputation and communities.” (December 2018 Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-20 1 Year Update” see our related blog. Key initiatives included the launch of the National Economic Crime Centre (November 2018 see our related blog) and the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy (November 2018).
15 January 2019
Tackling economic crime 2018-19
At the end of 2018 the Government published its “ 1 Year Update” of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-20 (“the Update”). This report set out that “corruption and economic crime undermines our economy, damages our international reputation and communities.” It concludes that the Government’s “commitment and effectiveness” in this area is demonstrated by “the UK’s strong performance” in the independent review of money laundering and terrorist financing undertaken by the Financial Action Task Force and its top tier ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
15 January 2019
Routinely and aggressively pursuing money-laundering investigations: the verdict on the UK’s AML regime
In December 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its report on the UK regime to counter money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF). The report praises the strength of the UK regime, noting that the UK has a ‘robust’ understanding of ML/TF risk, and proactively investigates, prosecutes and convicts ML and TF. The report cites that the UK achieves “around 7900 investigations, 2000 prosecutions and 1400 convictions annually for stand-alone ML offences or where ML is the principle offence”.
9 January 2019
AML: targeting the professional enablers – action not just talk
The significant sentence handed down (4th January, 2019) to a solicitor after being found guilty of three offences of money laundering shows that law enforcement is serious about cracking down on “professional enablers”. Scott McKay was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for money laundering committed in the course of his business as a conveyancing solicitor. It is reported that his conviction related to his work in the purchase of over eighty properties bought on behalf of members of a criminal gang.
21 November 2018
Ensuring crime doesn’t pay: confiscation regime under review
The Law Commission has been tasked by the Home Office to consider reforms to the confiscation regime “to ensure they’re effectively depriving convicted offenders of their ill-gotten gains”. Noting that the confiscation regime is a potentially valuable tool by which offenders can be deprived of any benefits they have gained through criminal conduct, the Commission acknowledged that the law in this area is unduly complex and can hamper the effective recovery of the proceeds of crime.
