Poca Money Laundering

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Section 330 and 331 of the PoCA imposes an obligation on persons in the regulated sector to report any knowledge or suspicion or any reasonable grounds, for knowing or suspecting an offense of money laundering has been committed. Section 330 deals with reporting by a person employed within the regulated sector and Sec 331 deals with reporting by a nominated officer. As per sec 330 of PoCA, the three conditions to be met for an offense of failure to disclose within the regulated sector are: ● information became known in the course of business in the regulated sector ● the information known, suspected or caused the employee to have reasonable grounds for suspecting that another person is engaged in money laundering; ● the employee failed to …show more content…

The nominated officer (within UK financial institutions is usually the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO)) is responsible for evaluating the suspicious activity and report this to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) within the National Crime Agency (NCA). Failure to disclose such incidents is an offence for the employees and the nominated officer of the regulated firm. The authorised disclosure form relating to any suspicious activity commonly known as a ‘SAR’ (Suspicious Activity Report) is completed, and it is submitted to the National Crime Agency (the “NCA”). Section 104 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) brought in an amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA). This added a condition that legal obligations to report remain only if: ● the identity of the person is known ● there is knowledge of the whereabouts of the laundered property ● the information that is available would assist in identifying that person, or the whereabouts of the laundered property. Therefore the obligation to report is triggered only if the employee in the regulated sector had such information available to them in the course of business. The condition was brought in to reduce the number of reports that were filed that did not provide enough information about the person committing the laundering act, or his/her whereabouts and the property that was