Frustration, irritation, restriction and humiliation. No, this is not my recipe for marital success, but the welcome result of the application of one or more of an array of Orders that the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency now has at its disposal. Locking criminals up is rather satisfying, and certainly puts a crimp in their holiday plans, but we’re all realistic enough to know that incarceration rarely has much of an impact on a criminal’s finances – thanks, of course, to money laundering. In recognition of this, UK legislators have gradually provided more and more Orders to curtail the financial and other activities of naughty people.
The daddy of them all is the Serious Crime Prevention Order, under which all sorts of restrictions can be placed on you: the amount of cash and number of bank accounts you have, the technology to which you have access (such as phones and computers), the people you can meet and the cars you can drive. Financial Reporting Orders are another major inconvenience, requiring you to report your financial details at regular intervals – for up to fifteen years for most criminals, and longer for some. And then there is the Travel Restriction Order, designed specifically to curtail the movements of serious drug traffickers, and often requiring the surrender of your passport. Break the terms of any Order and you’re back inside, as money launderer Raj Koli recently found out.
So if you’re up for a quick helping of Schadenfreude, why not read SOCA’s latest list of who’s subject to which Orders – and thank your lucky non-criminal stars that it’s them and not you. And for the MLROs among you, it might just be worth a quick scan of the client lists to check that you don’t have anyone under Orders not to be there…
I hate money laundering 
Pingback: Showing some restraint | I hate money laundering