Context
The Home Office and HM Treasury have jointly announced a new £500m crackdown against money laundering, with five hundred new officers to be recruited to track dirty money, disrupt organised crime networks and seize criminal assets under a major new crackdown. The new officers will be deployed across police forces, the NCA and the CPS to follow the money behind serious and organised crime.
Key points to note and next actions
- The NCA estimates more than £100bn is laundered through the UK or UK corporate structures each year.
- Backed by £500 million of investment over three years from the economic crime levy, the crackdown forms part of the new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy, which sets out how the UK will make it harder for criminals to hide, move, or profit from crime.
- New figures show that almost £350m of dirty money was stripped from criminals and over £1 billion denied in a year-long crackdown on dirty money.
- Twenty six million pounds was returned into the pockets of victims, 2,700 illicit finance operations disrupted and convictions for money laundering have increased to almost 4,000.