Organised criminals are targeting solicitors during property purchases in order to launder money, it has been claimed.
Anti-money laundering and big data specialists Fortytwo Data said that its research had revealed that more than a third (37%) of all suspicious activity reports (SAR) across the entire legal sector were related to either residential or commercial conveyancing.
Between 2014 and 2017, 158 of the 506 SARs were related to residential house purchases, with a further 31 due to the purchase of commercial properties, according to figures obtained from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
SARs are submitted to the National Crime Agency when suspicious activity indicative of money laundering is spotted.
Around two-thirds of these cases are serious enough that they are then flagged up to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Last month the SRA launched a new Flag It Up campaign aimed at lawyers.
Fortytwo Data pointed out that property purchases provide perfect cover for criminals looking to hide dirty money, because of the large sums involved in typical transactions.
As a result, the legal profession is an attractive target.
Julian Dixon, chief executive officer of Fortytwo Data, sad these figures should be a “wake-up call”, and suggested that money laundering is likely “vastly under-reported” due to the nature of organised crime.
He added: “For criminals, the vast amount of cash involved in property purchases provides the perfect cover for laundering the proceeds of drugs, terrorism and firearms offences.
“The Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to be congratulated for handing down substantial fines and costs when anti-money laundering obligations are not met. It is only a strategy like this that will lead to better compliance in the future.”
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