Money laundering fraud news 02/12/2008 Man pleads not guilty to breaches of money laundering law

A civil servant from South Shields has appeared in court, accused of being the inside man in a sophisticated money laundering fraud involving Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The man, Shelton Irikefee Omene, worked at the Wearside tax office and has been accused of passing taxpayer details to a fraud operation that attempted to launder the proceeds of crime through the HMRC system. Newcastle Crown Court heard from the prosecutor in the case that, The case against him, in very simple terms, is that he used his employment with HMRC to access confidential information related to taxpayers and then fed that to others for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent tax claims against the Revenue.

Customer identity information including National Insurance numbers and HMRC reference numbers had been passed on, allowing the gang to request changes of address before filing fraudulent tax credit claims, which were used to disguise and launder more than £30,000 of money acquired through stolen debit cards.

The money laundering activity was detected through an audit trail of the HMRC Taxpayers Business Service. Bill Jones, director at ML Solutions 4U, comments, These charges, reaching into a department at the heart of government, show that anti-money laundering training is a vital need for businesses at all levels.

The man denies conspiracy to defraud in a period between December 2006 and January 2007. The money laundering fraud trial is expected to last two weeks.

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