13 Sep 2010

http://www.hja.net/legal-news/news-articles-list/directnews-import/accountant-jailed-for-money.aspx

An accountant has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to three money laundering charges at the Old Bailey.

The court heard that Robert Hulme, 52, was involved in a failed plan to steal just under GBP 24 million from HSBC and hide the proceeds of the crime in various companies.

Blackpool man Andrew Beveridge received an eight-year jail sentence for his part in the plot earlier this year, Sleaford Today reports.

Judge Anthony Leonard told Mr Hulme, who was represented by a serious fraud solicitor, that he was already living off the proceeds fraud at the time of the HSBC incident.

The 52-year-old's sentence will run consecutively with a nine-year term imposed in 2008 for VAT fraud.

Addressing the accountant, the judge said he realised Mr Hulme was not the mastermind of the HSBC plot, but his involvement was nevertheless serious and he stood to receive £1 million from the scam.

"I recognise you were not at the top of the tree, but you were on the next layer down," he said.

Meanwhile, an ongoing probe into insider dealing by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) saw an unnamed man arrested on suspicion of money laundering by the City of London Police Economic Crime Directorate last week.

A premises in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire was also searched as part of the FSA's investigation.

Six other people were arrested in the insider dealing probe last year, while the FSA is currently prosecuting 11 individuals for the offence.