Ben Hall and Lily Beweley-West acted for a client suspected of international money laundering. They recently persuaded the National Crime Agency (NCA) to discontinue their investigation into our client, resulting in Account Freezing Orders (AFOs) over the client’s 3 bank accounts (valued at over £250,000) being immediately lifted.

The NCA suspected that regular movements and high turnovers of cash meant that the frozen accounts were ‘mule’ accounts. The client was from Myanmar and as such, a lot of the funds moved between the UK and there. Myanmar is a country that is currently blacklisted by the NCA. Crucially, the NCA were unable to produce evidence of any specific crime and based their action on suspected links to ‘unknown criminal activity’. 

Ben and Lily made detailed representations and provided a comprehensive dossier of supportive evidence. Following detailed meetings with our client they were able to provide legitimate explanations for all the ‘suspicious’ transactions highlighted by the NCA. The representations emphasised that the current military coup in Myanmar prevented money being sent electronically, so our client’s family sent sums of money via friends and relatives in cash. The client is working in the UK as an NHS doctor, and supporting their niece through university, so large sums of cash were required to help them both. 

Thankfully, the release of our client’s funds has meant that they are able to continue to build their new life in the UK.