By making transactions extremely complicated and using locations all over the world, the fraudster will endeavour to cover his tracks. In 1993 the money-laundering law in the United Kingdom was extended beyond drugs to all crimes. The rules are draconian. The punishment is up to 14 years' imprisonment. Money laundering provisions are now in force throughout the EU, requiring record-keeping, customer identification and disclosure.
Auctioneers are, for the moment, outside their scope.
Practitioners in the offshore field need to adapt themselves to dealing with the threat of money laundering by co-operating with the appropriate law enforcement agencies. The English courts have come to distinguish between tax-avoidance which is acceptable and that which is not. The judicial approach in the UK has led to some uncertainty and is of course retrospective in nature. The Australian Revenue have been very tough and perhaps unscrupulous in this regard. Many Commonwealth countries have GAAR provisions and the British colonial draft included a simple anti-avoidance provision.