C1Part 7Money Laundering

Annotations:
Modifications etc. (not altering text)

Offences

I1C1329C1 Acquisition, use and possession

1

A person commits an offence if he—

a

acquires criminal property;

b

uses criminal property;

c

has possession of criminal property.

2

But a person does not commit such an offence if—

a

he makes an authorised disclosure under section 338 and (if the disclosure is made before he does the act mentioned in subsection (1)) he has the appropriate consent;

b

he intended to make such a disclosure but had a reasonable excuse for not doing so;

c

he acquired or used or had possession of the property for adequate consideration;

d

the act he does is done in carrying out a function he has relating to the enforcement of any provision of this Act or of any other enactment relating to criminal conduct or benefit from criminal conduct.

F22A

Nor does a person commit an offence under subsection (1) if—

a

he knows, or believes on reasonable grounds, that the relevant criminal conduct occurred in a particular country or territory outside the United Kingdom, and

b

the relevant criminal conduct—

i

was not, at the time it occurred, unlawful under the criminal law then applying in that country or territory, and

ii

is not of a description prescribed by an order made by the Secretary of State.

2B

In subsection (2A) “ the relevant criminal conduct ” is the criminal conduct by reference to which the property concerned is criminal property.

F12C

A deposit-taking body that does an act mentioned in subsection (1) does not commit an offence under that subsection if—

a

it does the act in operating an account maintained with it, and

b

the value of the criminal property concerned is less than the threshold amount determined under section 339A for the act.

3

For the purposes of this section—

a

a person acquires property for inadequate consideration if the value of the consideration is significantly less than the value of the property;

b

a person uses or has possession of property for inadequate consideration if the value of the consideration is significantly less than the value of the use or possession;

c

the provision by a person of goods or services which he knows or suspects may help another to carry out criminal conduct is not consideration.