R v MD. Sheffield Crown Court
This was a very complicated and highly involved investigation conducted over a 6 year period and involving 6 defendants who were alleged to have conspired to launder money.
My client was a well-respected businessman in Yorkshire. He had some business interests, which included a post office, a convenience store, a property portfolio and a currency exchange business. A police money laundering investigation started in 2009 as a result of an insurance payout 2008. The police followed, the money and the prosecution alleged that part of these funds had gone through my client's currency business.
My client had always maintained that he had acted in good faith and had fully complied with money laundering regulations and that all the appropriate checks and requirements had been conducted to a satisfactory standard and before the payment was received by his business.
The police investigated this matter for 6 years after my client had lodged a police complaint about the unsatisfactory progress of the investigation which had virtually destroyed his business portfolio. Our client was frustrated that the police investigation had not concluded and therefore had not cleared him of any wrongdoing.
We took careful instructions from our client and made a very detailed and technical disclosure request from the prosecution. We maintained that the defendant had kept a proper record of all the transactions and a complete history could be ascertained by considering electronic data. The prosecution was ordered to disclose the information we required. It was apparent that they were in difficulties and that the prosecution had been pursued prematurely. In those circumstances the prosecution could no longer proceed and withdrew the case against our client; the judge directed that not guilty verdicts be returned.
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