Police call for global laws on dirty cash

POLICE in Scotland want other countries to change their laws to help them tackle money laundering by "Mr Bigs".

The introduction of the Proceeds of Crime Act in the UK has made it easier to strip criminals of their profits. But the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) believes the rest of the world has failed to keep up.

Prosecutors in Scotland can strip criminals of profits based on "irresistible inference" - circumstantial evidence - such as a suspicious audit trail or if they are unable to prove their wealth came from legitimate earnings. However, other justice systems require a "predicate offence", which means they have to prove a crime in court.

The SCDEA says this has hampered Scotland's own efforts as money laundering is "inherently international".

Kenneth Murray, head of forensic accountancy at the SCDEA, said: "You might have an organised crime group in the west of Scotland, which has connections to a financier in Dubai, and a haulage company in Barcelona, and also to a Halal banking agent in Birmingham.

"A method of washing dirty money would be to physically transport the money to Spain using the haulier. If he can get that money into the Spanish banking system he has more options. He can take it offshore, to somewhere like Antigua or Dubai, and put it in an account there."

Once it has moved about so much it is hard to link the money to a specific crime. However, if other countries adopted the same laws as the UK, the SCDEA believes it would become easier to challenge the legitimacy of such funds.