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<p>Sections 327, 328, 329 and 330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 create provisions
to deal with offences of money laundering. The Ministry of Justice publishes data
on the number of prosecutions and convictions under POCA where money laundering is
the principal offence. There is no legal definition or specific criminal offence of
“high end” money laundering. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain
a central record of the number of defendants prosecuted for, and convicted of these
offences. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which
would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>CPS holds limited information on
the number of offences which were charged and which reached a first hearing in the
Magistrates Court. This does not equate to the number of defendants charged as single
defendant may be charged with more than one offence. The figures for the period since
2014 are provided in the table below.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2015-2016</p></td><td><p>2016-2017</p></td><td><p>2017-2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sections
327 to 330 - Proceeds of Crime Act 2002</p></td><td><p>4,542</p></td><td><p>4,866</p></td><td><p>4,813</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has prosecuted four individuals for money laundering
offences since 2014. Two of these prosecutions resulted in a successful conviction
in 2018. One of the two people who was prosecuted but acquitted was a qualified accountant.</p>
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