The average person who has seen a Hollywood movie involving Wall Street or another financial agency will have probably heard of money laundering at one time or another. And whether you are in the UK or the USA, money laundering is a serious offence.
But, what you may not know (unless you run a business or company) is that, rather than stockbrokers, companies are at a higher risk of being accused of committing money laundering offences. In many instances, just by being associated with another company that is under investigation, your company could be accused too. Yikes!
At ABV Solicitors, if you want to protect your company from such a devastating accusation, or if you are currently being accused of this crime by HMRC, our fraud solicitor can help. We pride ourselves on providing impartial, unbiased advice to our clients, helping to navigate a very stressful period.
Here, our fraud solicitor answers questions about money laundering in the UK to help you make sense of the severity of this criminal accusation.
What is money laundering?
Money laundering is, in essence, cleaning money gained through illegal activity and making it appear as though it came from legal means. It also involves disguising the sources of the money and moving it to a location where it is less likely to attract attention, such as an overseas bank account.
According to our fraud solicitor, if you are found guilty of money laundering under UK law, you can face a prison sentence of around 14 years.
Who can help my company with anti-money laundering checks?
Our team at ABV Solicitors can assist you with keeping your business’ finances free from such issues and accusations.
This will typically involve a member of our team advising you on checks and measures required to meet the regulations set down by the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AML).
Depending on the extent of open areas in your business that could be exploited by those associated with criminal activity, this can be a long process but will help to keep your company free of such accusations and investigations.
Who are the anti-money laundering regulatory bodies in the UK?
To combat money laundering, an array of enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies have been set up.
We have mentioned some of them above, but when it comes to getting your business’ finances up to scratch, you will need to adhere to codes set down by the following bodies:
As you can see, this is a formidable list, and to ensure that you adhere to all of their regulations, we recommend that you seek advice from a trained member of our team!
What is CDD?
You may have heard that with the expansion of trade, it is important to ensure that your customers are not involved in money laundering operations or pay for your services with laundered money.
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is simply a system that meets customer identification requirements to combat this issue.
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