Suspicious Activity Report

Section 330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 makes it a criminal offence, not merely good practice, for a person in the regulated sector to stay silent about suspected money laundering. An offence is committed if a person knows or suspects, or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that another person is engaged in money laundering, where that knowledge came to them in the course of a business in the regulated sector.

The offence is committed by failing to report — specifically, where the person does not make the required disclosure to a nominated officer, or a person authorised for the purposes of this Part by the Director General of the National Crime Agency, as soon as is practicable after the relevant information comes to them. In practice this required disclosure to a nominated officer, escalated as a Suspicious Activity Report to the NCA, is what keeps a bank, solicitor or accountant who reports a genuine suspicion from committing the offence themselves.