UK Accountants Still Failing To Report Money Laundering

by Caroline Maxwell, Tax-News.com, London

20 February 2002

A conference organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants last week has highlighted the fact in the United Kingdom many accountants are failing to file reports of suspected money laundering activities with the authorities.

At the ACCA's 'Cleaning Up Financial Services' conference, delegates were told that suspicious activity reports from accountants regarding their clients accounted for less than 1% of the total of all recorded instances last year, according to figures released by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).

Guest Speaker Jon McNally from the Economic Crime Unit at the NCIS told accounting professionals that they cannot afford to pass the buck: 'Accountants should be reporting their suspicions of money laundering, even if a bank is involved,' he insisted. 'Accountants cannot ignore a suspicion and assume that another organisation will have reported to NCIS,' He added that: 'Whether a transaction took place yesterday or five years ago is irrelevant - if there is a suspicion of money laundering, accountants have a duty to report.'

However, there are many who believe that not all the fault lies with the accounting profession, as conflicting provisions in the UK's anti-money laundering and data protection laws combine to make the area a potential minefield.

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