Listen and Read 61- Dirty Money

 Thẩm Tâm Vy, Oct 15th, 2020 LISTEN AND READ 61. 
LISTEN AND READ 61 
Dirty Money 
Please Explain 
A new anti-corruption tool is proving useful—in certain types of case 
 JUDGING BY HIS social-media posts, Mansoor Mahmood Hussain (pictured) was a 
successful businessman whose shrewd property deals allowed him to enjoy a lavish 
lifestyle, which included collecting high-performance cars and hobnobbing at VIP 
parties with the likes of Beyoncé and Simon Cowell. Investigators looking into criminal 
gangs in the north of England reached a different conclusion: they suspected Leeds-
based Mr Hussain of being a major money-
launderer who had helped gangsters, including 
Mohammed Nisar “Meggy” Khan, a convicted 
murderer, rinse tens of millions of pounds. 
 Despite intelligence linking Mr Hussain to 
organised crime, the National Crime Agency 
(UCA) struggled to gather the exhaustive 
evidence needed to bring moneylaundering 
charges. So it turned to a newish legal tool called 
an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO). This 
turns the tables on those suspected of buying 
assets with dirty money, forcing them to open 
their books and prove their wealth came from 
legitimate sources. Mr Hussain has agreed to 
hand over 45 properties worth £10 million ($12.9 
million). He could yet face a criminal investigation. 
 The NCA says the result is a “significant” step forward for UWOs, which Britain 
introduced in 2018. Ireland and Australia already had such provisions. It marks the first 
time a British case involving a UWO has led to assets being recovered. Criminal 
moneylaundering cases are difficult to prosecute; money trails can be horribly tangled, 
making it hard to connect the loot to the original crime. The UWO process, 
administered under civil law, involves a lower burden of proof and puts the onus on the 
suspect to prove that their wealth was not ill-gotten. 
 When Britain’s crime-busters started wielding UWOs, anti-corruption campaigners 
hoped that they would be a powerful weapon against a different type of ne’er-do-well: 
dodgy “politically exposed persons”, or peps—such as kleptocrats and their associates 
from places like Russia, Central Asia and Africa—who plough corrupt foreign capital 
into swanky British properties. Such swag is largely responsible for the “London 
laundry” tag bestowed on the capital. 
 Here, however, the NCA has found the going tougher. Of the three other UWO cases 
brought so far, two have involved peps. The one that drew more attention was against 
Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of a banker from Azerbaijan: £22 million-worth of assets, 
including a London mansion, were frozen. Ms Hajiyeva lost an appeal, but the case 
grinds on. The other case, involving properties owned by the daughter and grandson of 
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former president of Kazakhstan, was thrown out in June. The 
court found that the NCA had not provided sufficient evidence that the use of offshore 
entities to hold assets suggested financial shenanigans rather than being for legitimate 
reasons, such as privacy or legal tax mitigation, says Jonah Anderson of White & Case, 
a law firm. 
 Cases against peps were never going to be easy. They have plenty of money to hire 
the best lawyers, and many offshore structures are impenetrable. UWOs may prove 
more useful in domestic-crime cases than those involving international corruption. 
Gangsters beware. [The Economist 13.10.2020] 
 Notes: 
 - to hobnob: đàn đúm; bon chen vào - onus: gánh nặng; nhiệm vụ 
 - ne’er-do-well: useless, lazy person - dodgy: tinh ranh; láu cá 
 - kleptocrats: trọc phú giàu nhờ ăn cắp - swag [Stuff We All Get] = loot: của ăn cắp 
 - swanky: sang chảnh - to bestow on: ban cho 
 - to grind on: continue - shenanigans trò xảo quyệt; mánh lớ 
 - tax mitigation: giảm thuế - money-launderer: tội phạm rửa tiền 
 to hobnob a kleptocrat 
 a shenannigan a swag