Anti Money Laundering Blog

A 30-year-old man who spent more than GBP 1 million on luxury cars and holidays has been put to prison for money laundering. Kerry Reed was sentenced to 3 years in prison at Kingston Crown Court.

According to the court, Reed bought cars including 7 Range Rovers, 4 Porsches, 2 Ferraris and 2 Lamborghinis between 2004 and 2007. Part of the GBP 1 008 147 that was spent by him between April 2004 and May 2007 went on jewellery, designer clothes and socialising. Police said that each of his cars was bought with large cash deposits and kept for no more than 6 months.

Since 2003, Reed had no legitimate income registered with HM Revenues and Customs. When questioned by police, he himself gave his status as unemployed and could offer no reasonable explanation for his wealth.

A confiscation hearing is scheduled to take place on December 19.

Unity Bank Plc has decided to educate its staff skills in the area of anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and know-your-customer procedures.

A statement from the bank explained that educating the staff is in fulfillment of the bank’s high ethical stance and national economic wellbeing. According to the statement, Officers of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit are collaborating with Unity Bank for the extensive training.

Unity Bank will train 900 staff in these areas of its operations. 300 of them underwent the training in April and June while the remaining 600 were trained in August.

Last week, the deputy minister of finance and economic affairs Hamid Pour-Mohammadi of Iran announced that high council for fighting money laundering will be established. Hamid Pour-Mohammadi also said that the secretariat of the anti-money laundering council has been commissioned.

According to the deputy minister, several groups are planning to visit other countries in order to get acquainted with the latest achievements in anti-money laundering sphere.

The deputy minister added that as soon as the anti-money laundering council establishes the acts and laws on money laundering, the legislation in Iran will be enforced.

Pour-Mohammadi pointed out that Iran has always been pioneer in fighting money laundering, and its related laws are transparent. He noted that, unlike other countries, there is no such thing as a nameless banking account in Iran.

The legislation of the Isle of Man has been updated to ensure that it complies with international standards. The offshore jurisdiction has been distributing manuals that provide businesses advice and information on preventing money laundering to firms in the Isle of Man. The instruction guides that have been distributed offer amendments on the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering) Code 2007.

The new legislation affects firms that dealing in goods which accept cash payments of EUR 15 000 or more (or the equivalent in any currency). Accordingly, manuals have been sent to car dealerships, jewellers, estate agents, auction houses and similar businesses. The anti-money laundering manuals outline the responsibilities of these businesses and provide guidance. They also include registration/questionnaire forms which must be filled out and returned to the Department of Home Affairs by September 26, 2008. The materials included into the manuals are aimed at identifying to what extent businesses registered in the Isle of Man are required to comply with the anti-money laundering legislation.

On September 4, 2008, China’s central bank published a report with an announcement that it helped police uncover 89 money-laundering cases last year. These last year’s cases involved USD 4.2 billion.

According to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), about a half of the cases were related to underground private banks. This was revealed by the bank in its China Anti-Money-Laundering Report 2007. One third of these cases happened in the southern economic powerhouse of Guangdong Province, while approximately 10% of them involved drug-related crimes.

Altogether 328 cases were investigated with the help of the PBOC.

In accordance with the report, “China has established a relatively integrated system against money-laundering in the past 5 years.

On August 26, 2008, the Philippines House Banks and financial intermediaries committee approved a bill that would add valuable information to the country’s already existing anti-money laundering legislation.

Co-authored by Manila Rep.Jaime C. Lopez, committee chairman, and House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles, House Bill (HB) 4784 was approved and would be supplemented by provisions in HB 3053 made by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez.

The new anti-money laundering bill will expand the list of institutions and persons monitored for suspicious transactions to casinos, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents and dealers of precious metals and stones.

It is worth indicating that the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is now a member of the Egmont Group and it was removed from FATF’s list of non-cooperative countries and territories in February 2005.