§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of incidents of money laundering referred to the National Criminal Intelligence Service for each year since its inception indicating the sources of information and the number of referrals about and from(a) accountants and (b) lawyers. [37824]
§ Mr. MacleanAll disclosures of suspicious financial transactions made under the money laundering legislation are passed to the financial intelligence and money laundering section of the National Criminal Intelligence Service—NCIS. The total number of disclosures made for each year since the inception of NCIS in April 1992 are as follows:
Year Disclosures 1992 11,281 1993 12,750 1994 15,007 1995 13,710 1996 (to date) 7,416 Information about the number of disclosures made that relate to solicitors or accountants is not held centrally. However, the number of disclosures made by solicitors and accountants are as follows:
Year Solicitors Accountants 1992 4 1 1993 4 2 1994 86 6 1995 213 44 1996 (to date) 168 34 Other sources of disclosures cannot be retrieved easily for each of the years in question. However, in 1995 the sources of disclosures were:
158W
Origin of disclosure Percentage of total Banks and building societies 80 Insurance companies 5 Bureau de change 4 Solicitors and accountants 2
Origin of disclosure Percentage of total Independent financial advisers 1 Credit/debit companies 0.5 Industry regulators 0.1 Other sources accounting for less than 1 per cent, each (e.g. car/boat salesman) 7