Money-laundering is where a person deals with cash or assets knowing or suspecting that they, or the original source of funds, were obtained by criminal activity.  

The purpose of money-laundering is to conceal the criminal source of funds, or to move funds out of reach of the relevant prosecutors or courts.

Examples:

• A government official receives cash as a bribe and pays it into an offshore bank account in the name of a relative.
• A finance manager of an organisation embezzles money from the organisation and purchases a house in another country with the money.
• A sub-contractor submits a fraudulent claim to a contractor for work which it did not carry out.  The contractor pays the amount of the fraudulent claim into the sub-contractor’s bank account with Bank A.  The sub-contractor then moves the payment to Bank B. 

Avoiding money laundering: 

Do not deal with any money or other asset which you know or suspect may wholly or partly be the proceeds of a crime.

If you know or suspect that an activity involves money laundering, then avoid or withdraw from the activity and do not assist it in any way.

April 2025
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