Anti-money laundering professionals are urging solicitors to flag up their concerns about dirty money.
The Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) has partnered with the UK government on its Flag It Up campaign. Lawyers are asked to submit suspicious activity reports (SARs) to the National Crime Agency (NCA) if they have any concerns.
Typical warning signs are overly secretive or evasive clients, activity that’s inconsistent with the client’s income, requests for lawyers to act outside their usual speciality, unusually high fee offers and activities involving complex or illogical business structures that make it unclear who is behind the transaction.
Ian Messer, LSAG chair and director of financial compliance at the Law Society of Scotland, said: ‘Because solicitors often provide property transaction services, trust and company support services and operate client accounts, they are in a unique position to mitigate the risks of money laundering.’
The NCA believes hundreds of billions of pounds are laundered in the UK each year. For more information, visit: flagitup.campaign.gov.uk.
