Pubdate: Sun, 01 Jan 2006
Source: Sunday Herald, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 Sunday Herald
Contact:  http://www.sundayherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/873
Author: Liam McDougall, Home Affairs Editor

CRACKDOWN ON WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALS BEHIND DRUGS TRADE

Anti-Mafia Initiative Used As Model For Scottish Purge

Lawyers, accountants and estate agents who oil the wheels of the drug 
trade are to be targeted by an elite crime-fighting unit and 
specialist prosecutors similar to those battling the Mafia in Italy.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald, the head of the 
SDEA (Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency), Graeme Pearson, promised 
that 2006 would see a "significant shift in focus" in drugs law 
enforcement towards hunting down and prosecuting the white-collar 
professionals who prop up organised crime in Scotland.

Pearson said: "Historically, the police service's focus has been only 
on the criminals, but we know that those on the periphery - the 
lawyers, accountants, estate agents - are enabling organised 
criminals to run their businesses.

"We will be focusing heavily on these people this year, because 
without them the money-laundering and the business deals could not happen."

Pearson has also revealed that "early discussions" had taken place 
with Crown Office officials about emp loy ing specialist prosecutors 
on the project. The model would mirror that adopted by the FBI in 
America, anti-Mafia investigators in Italy and the New York Police 
Department, who work hand in glove with special prosecutors assigned 
to deal with organised crime.

"We've raised with the Lord Advocate the prospect of having 
experienced prosecutors on site who would oversee the work we're 
engaged in and set a strategy for investigations," Pearson said.

"When you look around the world, it's when the FBI and the New York 
Police Department attached specialist prosecutors to themselves that 
they had the big impact on organised crime, when the Italians started 
to smash the organised crime groups and lock up hundreds of mafiosi.

"With the prosecutor at the end of the corridor, they will know cases 
as they progress and direct us towards gathering the evidence they 
know will be vital to them to secure a conviction. They can say: 
'Never mind the white powder or the pile of money, if you connect him 
to him, I'll get a conviction.'"

The SDEA has already hosted a closed meeting in November with 
European and US money-laundering experts to discuss ways of tracking 
the elusive finances of organised criminals.

Pearson said: "Criminals have great difficulty running businesses, 
and getting rid of dirty money. They can't hide it under the bed or 
store it in a van somewhere because it's too vulnerable. They don't 
have the business acumen or experience, and at some stage they need 
to access white-collar professionals.

"They enable the purchase of houses, they draw up the contracts, they 
help to purchase legitimate businesses with the intention of 
laundering money through them, they secure credit and insurance policies.

"Quite clearly these people know who their clients are and that they 
are involving themselves in criminal activity."

In response to the threat posed by the "small minority" of 
professionals engaged in organised crime, the agency has held talks 
with regulatory bodies, such as the Law Society of Scotland and the 
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, to discuss mutual 
support in rooting out crooked members.

His aim, he said, was to "up the risk" for organised criminals who 
operate in Scotland and to run them out of the country.

Pearson also revealed his "impatience" for the development of the 
world's first "crime campus" in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire, which 
would bring together the SDEA - under its new name, the Scottish 
Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency - along with the National Criminal 
Intelligence Service, Customs and Excise and the newly created 
Serious Organised Crime Agency.

A spokeswoman for the Law Society of Scotland said it supported the 
SDEA purge on white collar professionals. She added that the society 
had already run a series of seminars to train solicitors on how to 
spot when clients may be trying to launder criminally acquired money 
through legal transactions.

Dr Tom McMorrow, executive director of the regulation and compliance 
department at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, 
said: "Changing black money into white is what makes the criminal 
world go round.

"It's very rare to prosecute white-collar criminals as evidence is so 
difficult to get. Out of 100 pieces of evidence, you maybe only get 
one or two nuggets, so you have to know what you're looking for.

"What has impressed me is the intention to recruit the best of 
police, lawyers and accountants, because unless you do that you won't 
bring back success, you're just whistling in the wind.

"Through the actions of the Scottish Executive and self-regulation 
within the accountancy profession they're making it difficult for 
white-collar criminals in Scotland to survive."

McMorrow added: "I can see Scotland becoming a real centre of 
financial integrity."

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service 
said: "The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service relies on a 
number of different agencies reporting all suspected criminal 
activity from across the country. The SDEA will continue to perform a 
vital role in this process, with a particular emphasis on serious and 
organised crime."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "Serious organised 
crime causes extensive and lasting damage to communities across 
Scotland. The police have a duty to uphold the law, so it's only 
right that, should the SDEA officers have reason to believe that 
individual professionals are aiding criminal activities, they take 
action against this."
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