---

Home Office

Answer

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a breakdown of how many convictions there have been for money laundering in total across the EU, and in each individual member state, in each of the last 10 years. [12393] Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The term money laundering refers to a number of different offences. Information taken from the Home Office court proceedings database showing the number of persons convicted for money laundering offences during the period 1991 to 2000 in England and Wales is given in table 1. Data for other European Union (EU) states are not collected regularly. The data in table 2 have been produced from a paper produced by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and was collected from the mutual evaluations of FATF members of which two rounds have occurred since 1991. Table 1: Number of offenders convicted at all courts for money laundering offences, by type of offence, England and Wales, 1991-2000{ 1} _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Code Offence 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Drug money laundering offences 93/49 S49 Drug {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- 1 {4}-- {4}-- 4 {4}-- 12 5 Trafficki ng Act 194 (previous ly S14 Criminal Justice (Internat ional Co- operation ) Act 1990 93/50 S50 Drug {6}-- {6}-- 4 4 3 2 11 9 9 16 Trafficki ng Act 1994 (previous ly S24 Drug Trafficki ng Offences Act 1986){2} Assisting another person to retain the benefit of drug trafficki ng 93/51 S51 Drug {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- 3 13 7 9 5 Trafficki ng Act 1994 (previous ly S23A Drug Trafficki ng Offences Act 1986 as inserted by S16 Criminal Justice Act 1993) Acquisiti on, possessio n or use of other proceeds of drug trafficki ng 93/52 S52 Drug {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- Trafficki ng Act 1994. Failure to disclose knowledge or suspicion of money launderin g 93/53 S53 Drug {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- Trafficki ng Act 1994 Disclosur e of informati on likely to prejudice an investiga tion ("tipping off") Total {4}-- {4}-- 4 5 3 5 28 16 30 26 drug money launderin g offences Offence of laundering proceeds of other crime 53/26 S93A {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- 2 10 4 4 9 Criminal Justice Act 1988{3} as inserted by S29 Criminal Justice Act 1993 Assisting another to retain the benefit of criminal conduct 53/27 S93B {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- 6 4 2 5 6 Criminal Justice Act 1988{3} as inserted by S30 Criminal Justice Act 1993 Acquisiti on, possessio n or use of proceeds of criminal conduct 53/28 S93C {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- 1 4 {4}-- 9 Criminal Justice Act 1988{3} as inserted by S31 Criminal Justice Act 1993 Concealin g or transferr ing proceeds of criminal conduct 53/29 S93D {5}-- {5}-- {5}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- Criminal Justice Act 1988{3} as inserted by S32 Criminal Justice Act 1993 Disclose of informati on likely to prejudice an investiga tion ("tipping off") Total for {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- {4}-- 8 15 10 9 24 offences of launderin g proceeds of other crime Total for all offences {4}-- {4}-- 4 5 3 13 43 26 39 50 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Excludes any convictions in Staffordshire {2} Court Proceedings data prior to 1993 cannot separately identify offences under S24 Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 (since consolidated and replaced by S50 Drug Trafficking Act 1994) from other drug offences. For the years 1993, 1994 and 1995, a special exercise was undertaken to identify this specific offence. However as a 100 per cent. response from courts was not achieved `estimates' for these three years were made. {3} Sections 93A to 93D Criminal Justice Act 1988 came into force in February 1994. {4} Nil return {5} Not applicable {6} Not available Note: All data are given on a principal offence basis Table 2: Number of convictions for money laundering offences, in certain EU countries _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Country Year Convictions Belgium 1994-99 182 Denmark 1994-99 88 Germany 1994 16 1995 15 1996 30 Ireland 1995-99 11 Italy 1994 \ 1995 | 125 1996 / _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: Financial Action Task Force

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

12393; 374 c496-7W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Crime Convictions EU countries Drugs Proceeds of crime Money laundering

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk