An Afghan criminal who boasted he was Europe’s biggest people smuggler has been jailed for 9 years for smuggling illegal immigrants into the UK.
Over 12.5 tonnes of cannabis resin – enough to produce 36 million spliffs – has been incinerated after an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
The drugs seizure, from the tug boat ‘Abbira’ which had docked at Southampton, represents one of the largest seizures of cannabis resin in the UK. It was destroyed in a specialist incinerator and needed 6 separate burnings to cope with the volume.
The number of offshore financial centres could shrink by half within the next five years as the worldwide crackdown on tax havens gathers pace, according to a prominent Jersey-based financial lobbyist.
This guidance is being sent to Money Service Businesses (MSBs) with a copy of the first direction issued under the Counter Terrorism Act 2008 Schedule 7 which affects them and will shortly be included in Public Notice MLR8: Preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
If you have known somebody as a close relative for 40 years do you still need to ID him before accepting instructions?
AccountingWEB.co.uk 22-Apr-2009
A LIVERPOOL gang behind a massive Scottish drugs farm was stripped of thousands of pounds. John Fitzgibbon, 60, and Michael Fairhurst, 44, ran the sophisticated cannabis operation for more than two years. The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) raided the farm on the north-east coast of Scotland in the spring of 2007. Officers took the pair and a third man, Richard Ford, 60, to Liverpool crown court to claw back as much money as possible using the Proceeds of Crime Act. The three were stripped of a total of almost £140,000 during the two-day hearing.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency is warning drug traffickers they will face a long time behind bars if they attempt to import drugs into the United Kingdom.
Tobagonians Owen Alfred and Oswin Moore were jailed for 18 and 15 years respectively in London today for their roles in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy. Ten other members of the organised crime gang, which has been completely dismantled by SOCA, were previously sentenced to a total of 144 years.
SHE enjoyed a life of the most vulgar excess, once joining her husband for a £600 chauffeur ride to Claridges for a £345 meal at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant. But yesterday the glamorous wife of a Liverpool drugs baron was locked up for laundering his ill-gotten gains. Former beautician Sara Shea used her university-educated husband Keith’s drug money to pay for an enviable lifestyle of luxury.
All UK businesses regulated under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, whether Money Service Businesses or other regulated persons should treat transactions associated with Iran as situations that by their nature can present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing
The payback conference at the National Motorbike Museum, Birmingham was well attended and was generally appreciated by all attendees. Most sectors had a presence of their supervisory bodies. HMRC gave a presentation on risk assessment as well as having advisors on hand to answer queries.