Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

Bank of Scotland’s rogue employees in £245 million scandal Between 2003 and 2007, rogue employees at Bank of Scotland’s (HBOS) Reading branch worked with a group of consultants to defraud the bank and small businesses of roughly £245 million [9] , leaving hundreds of people in dire financial trouble. HBOS was consequently fined £45.5 million for failing to disclose information about the scandal. The scheme involved referring small businesses to a turnaround consultancy, which would load the businesses with obscene debts and fees. Small businesses should be wary about being referred to outside consultancies and should always look to seek independent legal and financial advice when faced with this kind of situation. Commonwealth Bank agrees to pay £400 million fine Australia’s largest lender, Commonwealth Bank, agreed to pay a £400 million fine (the largest ever civil fine in Australian corporate history) in 2018 [11] for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing legislation. The bank failed to report 53,000 suspicious transactions to the relevant authorities. According to Commonwealth Bank, this was caused by a coding error which meant their machines were not able to automatically report the transactions. Organisations in the financial sector should carry out regular checks to ensure their software is in good working order, and actively seek expertise on complying with anti-money laundering and fraud legislation. With the astronomical cost - well into the hundreds of billions of pounds - of money laundering and fraud to British citizens, businesses and the government each year, the scale of this criminal activity can almost be incomprehensible. However, reviewing cases like these provides a glimpse into how money laundering and fraud can manifest in real life, while the consequences faced by those responsible highlight their severity. We hope that this insight will help raise awareness of money laundering and fraud in this country, and help businesses understand what they can do to protect themselves and help others.” Four suitcases stuffed with £1.5 million in cash Mohamed Imran Khan Sathar Khan, 36, was caught in 2019 by Border Force officials attempting to smuggle £1.5 million in four suitcases onto a flight to Dubai [10] . Each case weighed exactly 20kg, which raised eyebrows among border guards, before they found the money. This is an exemplary case of the Border Force realising something may be amiss and investigating thoroughly to uncover a crime. Although not all attempts to smuggle cash out of the country will be as blatant as this, it’s important for authorities to remain vigilant and investigate suspicious patterns. *View all footnotes at www.lawyer-monthly.com 29 Special Feature Written by John Dobson, SmartSearch 8 10 9 FEB 2020 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM