Aziz Rahman explains to Taxation the significance of HMRC imposing its record fine for breaching money laundering rules

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has imposed its biggest-ever fine for breaching money laundering rules.

Rahman Ravelli’s Aziz Rahman wrote an article for Taxation magazine outlining the significance of the £23.8M fine that UK payments business MT Global has been ordered to pay.

In his piece, Aziz highlights the fact that this fine dwarfs the total value of all fines issued by HMRC in the previous financial year - and that it is almost three times larger than the previous biggest penalty imposed by HMRC for such failings. He explains that this fine can be viewed as a sign of HMRC’s determination to tackle money laundering failures.

With HMRC supervising around 30,000 businesses for anti-money laundering purposes, Aziz emphasises the importance of such companies taking note of the MT Global fine and ensuring that they meet all their money laundering obligations.

He says that if any companies supervised by HMRC do not know how to ensure they are complying with such obligations they have to seek advice from those with the relevant expertise. A failure to do so can prove costly, as this latest fine has shown.

Aziz's article featured in Taxation. (Subscription required)