LAWYERS 'LAUNDER DRUGS CASH'

LAWYERS from at least six law firms are being investigated for alleged money
laundering on behalf of drug traffickers and other organised criminals.

Law enforcement agencies including several police forces are investigating
the handling of profits from drugs, gun-running and violent gang activities.
News of the investigations came in an interview in The Laywer magazine with
Det Chief Insp Simon Goddard, head of the organised and economic crime unit
at the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS.)

Mr Goddard said: "We know who they [the lawyers] are. We are aware of some
of their activities and we are at varying stages of our investigations. We
certainly have lawyers who perform the role like an old consigliere in the
Mafia films. They know who their clients are and know how their clients make
their money and know it isn't from a legitimate activity."

It is alleged that the lawyers are setting up accounts to receive illicit
funds, some from abroad, to give an appearance of legitimacy. They then
channel the money to offshore accounts to be used by the criminals. The law
firms and lawyers involved have not been identified but NCIS sources
suggested that they were in the City and elsewhere in London.

It is not suggested that any of the large-scale firms - some of which have
hundreds of lawyers - are working as corporate entities for organised crime.
But it is suspected that lawyers in some big firms are accepting illicit
money and using their position in respectable concerns to hide the practice.

In some cases the investigations are said to focus on lawyers' homes and the
connections they have forged with criminals in their local areas. In one
case the whole of a small firm is said to be a front for money laundering.

Checked-by: Don Beck