Duo jailed for money laundering

TWO men who banked and laundered up to £21m pounds on behalf of organised crime groups have been ordered to pay back a total of £194,000.
 
In January of this year, the four men involved in this criminal conspiracy were convicted at Manchester Crown Court.
 
Kamran Butt 48 of Stretford, Instar Ahmed 56, of Longsight, Sean Moore 36, and Stephen McKenna, 57, both from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to money laundering. Butt and Ahmed were jailed for three years and six months while Moore and McKenna were jailed for 14 months, suspended for 12 months.
 
The four men, in varying degrees, played their roles in helping organised crime groups effectively 'clean' their drug money by laundering it through different bank accounts.
 
Yesterday, Butt was ordered to pay £182,693.34 following a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing. At an earlier hearing on 11 July 2014, Ahmed were ordered to pay £11,021.00.
 
The conspiracy unmasked by the Greater Manchester Police Money Laundering Unit showed the four men were receiving vast sums of cash from criminal networks. The investigation revealed that about £21m had been laundered. It was also established that during a 23-day period between 25 August 2011 and 16 September 2011 Butt was involved in laundering approximately £2m in criminal cash.
 
Detective Constable Mark Chesters said: "This was an extremely complicated and difficult investigation to crack, but I am delighted that thanks to the perseverance and tenacity of everyone who worked on the job, not only have these men been convicted but they also won’t see a penny of the money they made. In Mr Butt's case he will have to sell his home to satisfy his order.
 
"What we discovered was an orchestrated plot by these men to launder millions of pounds of the ill-gotten cash that organised crime groups were making from the drug trade. These criminal networks are driven by money, so by exposing the way they launder their money, we have significantly eroded their power base and made it very difficult for them to operate.
 
"Not only that, but we have seen a clear message to their criminal consorts who bank and launder money that not only we will take away their freedom, but we will also take away any profits they make.
 
"I hope criminals take heed of this stark warning: is it worth getting involved with organised criminality? The people you are working for don’t care if you take the fall, so is worth getting involved when you will lose your liberty and any money you can.
 
"The Force's Financial Investigation Unit works tirelessly to see where these criminals are trying to hide their dirty money and when we can demonstrate they have clearly made money through criminality, we will claw that money back off them."