Wednesday, October 1, 2014

NEW UK SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR MONEY LAUNDERING : TOO LENIENT ?


The Sentencing Council has issued its final guidelines for criminal offenses, applicable where the defendant is sentenced after October 1, 2014. If you work in financial industry in the UK, you are advised to review the complete text on money laundering, which you can access here*; The chapter on money laundering begins on page 35.

Whether the maximum sentence imposed for money laundering,  of 14 years (serving no more than 13 years in custody), is insufficient punishment for the most prolific (over £10m) money launderers, and whether they should be held in custody for a longer period, as they pose a major threat, will certainly be debated. In my humble opinion, the money launderers who move real volume should be taken out of the financial system, and incapacitated, through sentences longer than that which the Sentencing Council, in its wisdom, has seen fit to impose. They need to be withdrawn from circulation, to be blunt about it. America's 20-year penalty per count, which can be served consecutively, as we saw recently, is effective.


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*  http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Fraud_bribery_and_money_laundering_offences_-_Definitive_guideline.pdf  

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