Overview

A recent Supreme Court decision, R v Rollins, has made it clear that the Financial Services Authority has the power to prosecute for money laundering offences, notwithstanding that such offences fall outside the remit of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The FSA had brought charges against Mr Rollins for: (i) offences of insider dealing under section 52 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993; and (ii) offences of money laundering under sections 327 and 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in respect of the transfer of part of the proceeds of a share sale to his father’s bank account. Mr Rollins sought to challenge the FSA’s power to prosecute the money laundering offences on the basis that this is not expressly provided for by section 401 (which relates to the prosecution of offences under FSMA) or section 402 FSMA (which gives the FSA the power to institute proceedings for non-FSMA offences). Mr Rollins sought to argue that the offences referred to in sections 401 and 402 FSMA constitute a complete code within which the FSA must operate.

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