Money laundering case proves successful
On the 19th January 2009 four convicted members of a tobacco smuggling ‘gang’ appeared in Bournemouth Crown Court for a financial hearing in relation to a money laundering investigation. Each member had received a considerable jail sentence and the Court further ordered funds totalling £645,678 to be confiscated as the proceeds of their criminality. Guernsey Customs & Immigration Service – Law Enforcement Division have been working closely with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs since 2006, assisting in the investigation into the money laundering activities of this ‘gang’. The operation surrounded the improper importation into the UK of 1.5 tons of hand rolling tobacco. The subsequent investigation carried out by HMRC revealed substantial quantities of hand rolling tobacco for which duty had not been paid and also quantities of cash were discovered as a result of search warrants being executed in the UK.
In the course of the investigation it was discovered that approximately £200,000 from the revenue fraud were held in Guernsey. The Customs and Immigration Service working in conjunction with HMRC and the Law Officers, restrained these funds before the Royal Court to ensure that the criminals could not benefit from their crimes.
The Customs and Immigration Service is committed to investigating money laundering as one of its key priorities and will do all it can to assist jurisdictions worldwide to ensure that the Bailiwick is not an easy location to hide funds or launder money which has been gained from criminal conduct.
Mark de Garis, Assistant Chief Officer and Head of Law Enforcement said “As with all cases of this type it is our policy to assign trained financial investigators to link in with their overseas colleagues in order to identify, restrain and confiscate any funds that can be proven to have been derived from criminal conduct. This also ensures that we focus upon and effectively investigate any associated money laundering offences. In summary, this case is a good example of how by working together with other law enforcement agencies cross border crime such as money laundering can be effectively dealt with.”
Picture: Tobacco seized by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
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