Last week, the Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime, Ben Wallace, Member of Parliament (MP), formally launched a new partnership of agencies to fight economic crime known as the “National Economic Crime Centre” (NECC).
The initiative, announced in December last year, will crack down on all businesses with an initial focus on estate agents, responsible for allowing money laundering through high-value property purchases, high street solicitors, and accountants who, it is claimed, facilitate about £100 billion (U.S. $130 billion) of money laundering in the United Kingdom but are failing to report suspicious activity, public schools, football clubs and other sports teams, and luxury car garages. The regulatory bodies for these industries have also been contacted by the minister and told to beef up their monitoring protocols. The minister has pledged an additional £48 million (U.S. $62 million) to fund the agency.
