11/03/2015

Hawalausedtolaunder20millioninEngland|MoneyJihad

MoneyJihad
Combatingterroristfinancing

Hawalausedtolaunder20millioninEnglandJanuary 26,
2014
ABritishtrialhasrevealedthatcriminalgangshavebeenlaunderingdrugmoneybysendingit
throughhawalaandconventionalbankingchannelsfromEnglandtoahawaladealeroverseas
tosendbacktothegangstersintheU.K.
Despitetheseriousnessoftheunderlyingcrime,fourofthemeninvolvedintheschemehave
received light sentences ranging from three years in prison to supervised release with no
prisontime.ThesentencingisreminiscentofthatofNewYorkhawaladealerFaisalShahzad,
whofundedthefailedTimesSquarebomberandgotoffwithprobation.
Meanwhile,lawenforcementandfinancialregulatorscontinuetomakemarginalorpiecemeal
recommendationsforhowtoprotectfinancialmarketsandthepublicfromtheinherentriskof
hawala transactions. One simple idea would be to impose tougher penalties and longer
sentencesforhawalacrimes.
FromtheLiverpoolEchoonJan.17(h/tArun):

Gangwholaunderedmorethan20musing
ancientIslamicsystemjailed
TwoLiverpoolmenpartoffourmangang
Two Liverpool men who helped launder more than 20m of drugs money through banks
weresparedprison.
The money is believed to have been laundered using legitimate bank accounts and an
ancientIslamicmoneylendingsystem.
Kamran Butt and Instar Ahmed, from Greater Manchester and Liverpool men Steven
McKenna and Sean Moore were put under surveillance by police in two undercover
operations.
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Hawalausedtolaunder20millioninEngland|MoneyJihad

But officers found they were linked when Butt and Ahmed were seen depositing money
intothesamebankaccounts.
The money was transferred to the defendants, who were recruited by operatives in the
MiddleEast,usingtheHawalasystemaninformalIslamicwayoflendingmoneybased
onhonouragreementsandthirdpartylenders.
Afifthman,namedincourtasAkhtar,wasalsoheavilyinvolvedbutwasdeportedto
Pakistanin2012andhasnotbeentracedsince.
Watched by undercover police, Akhtar and Ahmed were seen depositing huge sums of
moneyatbanksinChorlton,LongsightandManchestercitycentre.
The two men would travel to branches of Lloyds, HSBC and Halifax together but then
pretendnottoknoweachotheronceinside.
Ahmedalsoworkedinpartnershipwithothersinthegang.
Manchester Crown Court heard how on Monday, August 22, 2011, police intercepted
AhmedandMcKennaandseizedthreerucksacksstuffedwithmorethan200,000incash.
Onanotheroccasion,MoorewasseenwithButtinhisMercedescar.
Buttwasstoppedandabagwasseized,whichwasfoundtocontainabout120,000incash.
His Stretford home was then searched and a further 10,000 was seized.Cash receipts in
vehiclestracedtothefourmenshowedtheywerepayinginanywherefrom500to10,000
atime.Allthemoneyisbelievedtohavecomefromcriminalgangs,mainlythroughdrug
sales.
The criminal cash was given to a Hawala money lender abroad who then transferred the
moneytoaHawalalenderintheUKandgavethemapassword.
This password was then passed onto one of the defendants allowing them to collect the
cash.
TheythenpaidthemoneyintobankaccountsinManchesterwhichthecriminalshadaccess
to.
Thecourtheardthefourdefendantswerethebottomofthechainbelowcontrollersand
then coordinators, working as collectors to receive the money, deliver it and pay it into
variousbankaccountsintheUK.
After being caught, all four defendants pleaded guilty Moore to two charges of money
launderingandButt,McKennaandAhmedtoonechargeofmoneylaunderingeach.
Butt,ofGreatStoneRoad,Stretford,wasbelievedtobebehind12minlaunderedcash,and
wassentencedtothreeyearsandsixmonths.
Ahmed, of Kelstern Square, Rusholme, who is believed to have laundered 10m also
receivedasentenceofthreeyears,sixmonths.
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Hawalausedtolaunder20millioninEngland|MoneyJihad

Moore, of Kingfisher Grove, Liverpool, and McKenna, of Maley Street, Liverpool, both
received14monthsentencessuspendedfor12monthsand12monthsupervisionorders.
Moorewasorderedtocarryout108hoursunpaidworkandMcKenna150hours
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