A black cab hire boss has been jailed for
30 years after he was once convicted of replacing
"grimy" drug cash for millions
of pounds of clean currency.
Eyad Iktilat (47) ran taxi rent and repair company
Royal All rightTaxis in Paddington West London as
a sound industry nevertheless it was once only an entrance for
the corporate's illegal activities.
The Arab Israeli playboy helped organised crime
networks around the us of a to launder over?80 in
years and led a millionaire's lifestyle at the
again of the proceeds.
He drove a Ferrari and a Bentley and had just paid
?750,000 for a plot of land in Spain and was planning
to spend?2m on building a luxury villa.
The jury at Woolwich Crown Courtroom heard that Iktilat
gained baggage of dirty cash from the drug
dealers and laundered the money through a bureau
de trade owned by Egyptian-born Jean-
Claude Frigieri.
The West Molesey businessman swapped the
cash for 500 Euro notes which he bought in bulk
from currency wholesalers Interchange. Frigieri
used to be jailed for 10 years.
The 500 Euro notice is now not to be had
partly as it was once well liked by criminals who
wanted to launder quite a lot of money.
Royal AlrightTaxis got here to the eye of the police
in 2007 and detectives bugged the Paddington administrative center
and watched Iktilat and his mates round
the clock ahead of arresting the crowd on thirteen February
2008.
5 hundred officials also apprehended 22 other people
in operations throughout London, Essex, Kent and
Hertfordshire.
In one raid, a digger was used to damage via
the wall of an area in Hillingdon, West London
which was once owned by means of Maythem al-Ansari a "felony
investor" who posed as a sound businessman.
The Iraqi used to be if truth be told offering the cash to finance
the smuggling of substances and was jailed at
Woolwich Crown Court for ten years.
In general, 33 other people had been sentenced to over 2 hundred
years in jail.
The Eaglewood Operation highlighted how easy
it's to make use of cash-primarily based businesses, like cab corporations and
apartment corporations to launder drug money through
change bureaux and Dominic Thorncroft of the
UK Cash Transmitters Association, mentioned: "The
cash laundering regulations are not as actual as
they should be. We highlighted this example to the
HMRC a yr in the past however they have got not modified or
amended their steerage at all.
Frigieri's corporate was one among four,000 companies
to carry a HMRC-authorized Money
Provider Business (MSB) registration allowing
it to legally trade in overseas currencies.
Thorncroft added: "Frigieri was once going to wholesalers
and announcing 'I am an MSB' and so they were the use of
that as due diligence. There's a fit and right kind check
so that you can sign up as an MSB however it is nonetheless slightly
easy to obtain."
A spokesman for HMRC, stated: "HMRC reviewed its
guidance but got here to the conclusion that the present
subject matter safely explained the jobs and
tasks of companies taken with those
forms of transaction. Intermediaries are recently
required through the regulations to report suspicious activity.
"Including further burdens on middleman businesses
are due to this fact no longer necessary because the legislation and
HMRC steering is already clear in what they're required
to do.
"In addition, if an individual has been convicted of
a cash laundering offence they can't perform
an MSB and could not pass HMRC's 'are compatible and right kind'
test."
Detective Superintendent Steve Richardson, from
the Met, said: "These criminals have been residing the
lives of wealthy businessmen through their prison
activity. The lives they are leading now could
not be more different.
"The link among drugs and violence has been
neatly made and will ultimately be traced to violence
and harm in London's boroughs. Operation Eaglewood
has averted these folks from contributing
to that."