It has come to the notice of regulators that several companies in the UK were created to hide the real identity of the owners. Most of them are operated by third parties and for this reason, investigators from Met Police Economic Crime Unit commenced an investigation in 2018. The investigations have strengthened this belief and also revealed that gangsters used fake identities. One account of a dead man and a victim of identity theft were used to create an account that was used to launder millions of euros from Europe to the UK. The funds go through the channels before they are paid back to Italian accounts.
The Account Freezing Order that was introduced in 2017 was used by the seize the accounts of the criminals. Detective Superintendent Nick Stevens confirmed that numerous shell companies were created in the UK solely to launder a huge amount of money from overseas. The progress made by the investigators so far is an acknowledgement of the team capability, knowledge, and ability to uncover complex money laundering cases.
