Insights

The UK economy’s stability the reputation of its financial institutions and global position as an international financial centre is all at risk as a result of money laundering schemes by organised crime groups. Large-scale money laundering through UK businesses is rife, and laundering in the capital market is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. The government is now making a huge push to crack down on financial crime with a number of recent new initiatives.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Metropolitan Police breached the rights of two women (known as DSD and NBV) who made allegations of rape against John Worboys by failing to investigate the allegations properly. Two of the women raped by the black cab rapist in 2003 and 2007 had been fighting for justice for four years. When they initially reported the attacks, the police failed to investigate the cases properly, meaning Worboys remained at large – he went on to commit similar offences on over a hundred more women until 2009 when he was eventually arrested and charged.

In a news release published on 10 April 2018, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced its intention to use artificial intelligence in all new investigations. The organisation said its new AI system, which automates document analysis, will scan millions of documents and be able to detect patterns, remove duplicates, group information by topic and eventually sift for relevance. The new ‘robot’ was trialled in the Rolls-Royce case to detect material that might attract legal professional privilege in around 30 million documents. This was the first criminal case in the UK to make use of AI, and it was hailed a success by the SFO.

Olyotya! (Hello) and greetings from downtown Kampala, Uganda… 

The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA) contains special measures designed to allow witnesses to provide pre-recorded evidence in chief.