【正确答案】Money laundering is a criminal offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act(POCA) 2002. Layering is one of the stages in the overall process of money laundering designed to disguise the illegal source of money. It involves the transfer of money made from illegal sources from place to place and from one business to another in order to conceal the initial illegal source of the money. The layering process may involve many inter-business transfers in an attempt to confuse any potential investigation of the original source of the money.

【正确答案】The POCA 2002 seeks to control money laundering by creating three categories of criminal offences in relation to that activity. –laundering The principal money laundering offence relates to laundering the proceeds of crime or assisting in that process. Unders.327, it is an offence to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property. –failure to report The second category of offence relates to failing to report a knowledge or suspicion of money laundering. Under s.330 POCA 2002 it is an offence for a person who knows or suspects that another person is engaged in money launderingnot to report the fact to the appropriate authority. –tipping off The third category of offence relates to tipping off. Section 333 POCA 2002 makes it an offence to make a disclosure,which is likely to prejudice any investigation under the Act. It is apparent from the scenario that all three people involved in the scenario are liable to prosecution under the POCA 2002 as they are involved in money laundering. If the original money to establish the taxi company was the product of crime, then that transaction itself was an instance of money laundering. However, even if that were not the case and the taxi company had been bought from legitimate money, it is nonetheless the case that it is being used to conceal the fact that the source of much of Nit’s money is criminal activity. Nit would therefore be guilty on the primary offence of money laundering under s.327 POCA 2002. Whether or not Owen is also guilty of an offence in relation to the POCA depends on the extent of his knowledge as to what is actually going on in the company. As he knows what is taking place, then, as he is clearly assisting Nit in his money laundering procedure, his activity is covered by s.327, as he is actively concealing and disguising criminal property. He would also be liable under s.328 as his arrangement with Nit ‘facilitates the retention of criminal property’. Pat is also guilty under the same provisions as Owen, in that he is actively engaged in the money laundering process, by producing false accounts. Had he not been an active party to the process, he might nonetheless have been liable, unders.330, for failing to disclose any suspiciously high profits from the taxi business.