Financial crime investigations

You should have processes whereby staff must report (usually to the nominated officer) knowledge or suspicion of:

1. •

   money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing

2. •

   sanctions breaches

3. •

   fraud

4. •

   tax evasion

5. •

   bribery and corruption

6. •

   organised crime

The nominated officer is then under an obligation in certain circumstances to report that knowledge or suspicion to the National Crime Agency (NCA) through a suspicious activity report (SAR) (or, dependent on the nature of the report, to another agency through appropriate channels).

The NCA allocates SARs to trained financial investigation officers for further investigation. Intelligence from SARs may then be disseminated by the NCA to other law enforcement or government agencies (LEAs) which may need further information.

Where additional information is required following a SAR, it may be obtained through enforcement action (usually a production order) under POCA 2002. While you must comply with any court order, you are also required to keep your client's information confidential; see Practice Note: SARs and confidentiality—law firms.

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