From: RegTech Analyst
HM Revenue and Customs has named and shamed businesses that have been fined a total of more than £23.8m for breaking money laundering laws.
That includes money transfer company MT Global Limited, which were slammed by a record £23.8m fine for repeated breaches to the rules between 2017 and 2019.
“Businesses who fail to comply with the money laundering regulations leave themselves, and the UK economy, open to attacks by criminals,” said Nick Sharp, deputy director of economic crime, fraud investigation service at HMRC.
“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. Criminals use laundered cash to fund serious organised crime, from drug importation to child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and even terrorism.
“We’re here to help businesses protect themselves from those who would prey on their services. That includes taking action against the minority who fail to meet their legal obligations under the regulations as this record fine clearly shows.”
In 2019 to 2020 HMRC completed 2,000 interventions on supervised businesses, issued penalties totalling £9.1m and stopped 89 non-compliant businesses and individuals from trading. It also recouped over £166mn from the proceeds of crime, of which more than £22mn was linked to money laundering offences.
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