§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many prosecutions have resulted from suspicious activity reports made to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. [HL4270]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalSuspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are useful for law enforcement purposes for a variety of reasons and not simply to instigate money laundering investigations. For example, SARs may be used to enhance intelligence relating to on-going law enforcement or revenue investigations, where money may not be the main predicate offence; they may be used for providing leads for targeted cash seizure; or they may be held on relevant intelligence databases for use in future cases.
Given the variety of ways in which this information is used, it is not possible to link particular SARs with particular prosecutions and convictions. But the reporting system is a key element of the United Kingdom's defences against money laundering. In their 2003 review for the Government of the SAR regime, the consultants KPMG examined a sample of SARs. Of those whose impact could be specifically identified, one-third were found to have contributed to a positive law enforcement outcome such as prosecution, confiscation of criminal proceeds or cash seizure. More recent analysis by National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) in relation to the impact of one category of SAR (those where an institution has sought consent to proceed with a transaction) suggests that during 2003 £25 million of assets have been seized, restrained or returned to the victim.
Information on prosecutions for money laundering offences is set out in the table.
Prosecutions brought in England and Wales for money laundering offences
All offences
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total 76 52 126 129 182 256 NB: statistical data for prosecutions for money laundering offences since 2002 are not currently available. One consequence of this is that the above data does not relate to prosecutions brought under Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
19WA
§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people are currently employed by the National Criminal Intelligence Service; and how many were employed by that service on 1 January 2003. [HL4269]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalThe table shows the latest figures available on National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) funded employees and attachments from other organisations. The figures for March 2003 are the most accurate available for that year.
Date NCIS Employees Attached Staff March 2003 885 71 September 2004 1,095 66
§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many suspicious activity reports have been made to the National Criminal Intelligence Service in connection with suspected money laundering or tax evasion, broken down by months during the calendar year 2003 and to date in the year 2004. [HL4268]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalUnder the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, firms within the regulated sector are required to report knowledge or suspicion of money laundering—or where they have reasonable grounds to know or suspect that another person is engaged in money laundering—to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). It is important to note that the definition of money laundering not only includes those instances of transforming "dirty" money into clean proceeds through a variety of different transactions, but also may include the one-off placement of the proceeds of any crime in different types of financial products or assets.
Given this definition, all reports received by NCIS relate to suspicion (or knowledge) of money laundering. The number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) made to NCIS in each month of the last two years was as follows:
2004 2003 January 8,194 6,259 February 10,702 6,321 March 12,134 7,024 April 11,461 6,437 May 11,342 6,827 June 13,386 10,461 July 9,590 August 7,873 September 8,479 October 8,565 November 8,796 December 8,076 Total 67,219 94,708 For the tax year 2003–04, 7,548 SARs were forwarded to the Inland Revenue for investigation or intelligence purposes. For the tax year 2004–05, 3,459 SARs, covering the period 5 April to 27 August, have been forwarded to the Inland Revenue.