A bureaux de change owner and two of his employees have been jailed for laundering over £100 million of criminal cash through his business.
Thillianathan Kumarathas and Ramanathan Thayaparan recruited mutual friend, Dinesh Kumar Anandan, to help launder dirty money through Kumarathas’s two bureaux in Victoria, London.
The men would receive the “dirty” money from criminal gangs, who mixed with unsuspecting tourists when they brought bags of cash to the bureaux de change. The money was exchanged for €500 notes which could be easily concealed.
The defendants took a percentage of the cash and used their illegal profit to buy several properties in the UK, France and India, and paid for private schooling for their children.
David Margree, Assistant Director, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said:
“This was a calculated attempt to make a dishonest living and help organised criminals go undetected by exchanging the money they got from criminal activity. These sentences send out a very clear message that money laundering is a serious crime and will not be tolerated.”
Assets restrained and subject to confiscation action include:
· vehicles
· restaurants
· supermarkets
· cash and funds held in bank accounts
· business and residential properties.
Around £84,000 in cash was seized during searches of business and residential premises.