David Walbank QC secures acquittal on money-laundering charges brought by the City of London Police

October 13, 2018

David Walbank QC has brought to a successful conclusion proceedings arising from an investigation by the City of London Police into the financial affairs of a man previously convicted of large-scale money-laundering activity.

The instant prosecution focused on bank accounts associated with the defendant, who was alleged to be a professional money-launderer for a Liverpool-based Organised Crime Group. One of the accounts had been opened in a name to which the defendant had recently changed his name by deed poll and another was in the name of a company of which he was said to be the controlling mind. The prosecution relied upon £6 million worth of allegedly unexplained credits into the bank accounts, a substantial proportion of which were said to have been debited in large lump sum cash withdrawals.

Following a series of disclosure requests which David submitted in respect of entities named on the face of the bank records (including for information held by the Ministry of Justice and by the Insolvency Service), the Crown announced at a hearing at the Southwark Crown Court on 10 October 2018 that they would offer no evidence in support of the laundering charges and Not Guilty verdicts were entered.