Purchaser buying with funds connected with high-risk for money laundering country

user1977

AskAsk said:

user1977 said:

gazfocus said:

It does sound like it could be a way to launder money so I can see why the solicitors are being cautious...i.e. money sat in the UK untouched for a number of years

Sounds unlikely though - if they were laundering money, it's unlikely they'd want to twiddle their thumbs for years at any stage in the process. Generally they want to get it moved around and "cleaned" as quickly as possible.

not necessarily.  it may be money that they have gained that they can't actually explain if anyone looked into it in great detail.  if they moved the money out of the UK, eyes may start to look, and so it is better to divert attention by moving it out of the UK via channels rather than directly.  to give the buyer the large loan, may be good reason to move such a large amount without suspicion and then the money could be paid back slowly by the buyer without raising suspicion.  if i was doing the ALM, red flags would be popping up all over the place for me.

Realistically though, you have to draw the line somewhere when investigating the source of funds (unless you want to trace everything back to the invention of money!), and it's a reasonably safe assumption that funds which have been in somebody's account for several years are probably really theirs. Otherwise you end up like other threads here where people have been expected to produce evidence about salaries from defunct employers, lifetime gifts from long-dead relatives, etc.

ReadingTim

As seller there is nothing you can do whatsoever to influence proceedings - the only thing you have to make a choice on is whether you're willing to wait for the process to be concluded, or not.  However, if you ditch that buyer, there is no guarantee that any future buyer will offer as much or be able to complete any faster than the previous one.  

AskAsk

user1977 said:

AskAsk said:

user1977 said:

gazfocus said:

It does sound like it could be a way to launder money so I can see why the solicitors are being cautious...i.e. money sat in the UK untouched for a number of years

Sounds unlikely though - if they were laundering money, it's unlikely they'd want to twiddle their thumbs for years at any stage in the process. Generally they want to get it moved around and "cleaned" as quickly as possible.

not necessarily.  it may be money that they have gained that they can't actually explain if anyone looked into it in great detail.  if they moved the money out of the UK, eyes may start to look, and so it is better to divert attention by moving it out of the UK via channels rather than directly.  to give the buyer the large loan, may be good reason to move such a large amount without suspicion and then the money could be paid back slowly by the buyer without raising suspicion.  if i was doing the ALM, red flags would be popping up all over the place for me.

Realistically though, you have to draw the line somewhere when investigating the source of funds (unless you want to trace everything back to the invention of money!), and it's a reasonably safe assumption that funds which have been in somebody's account for several years are probably really theirs. Otherwise you end up like other threads here where people have been expected to produce evidence about salaries from defunct employers, lifetime gifts from long-dead relatives, etc.

it's not just about whether the money is theirs.  the money is probably theirs but it may have been gotten through illegal ways and tax may not have been paid on the earnings, so all sorts of things may start to trigger if they move large chunks.  the banks start to look when there is a large transaction from an account and they will report such transactions to HMRC and the appropriate authorities for them to review, so the person may not want to move the money out, especially abroad without a good explanation.

i had proceeds from a property sale paid into my natwest account and when i tried to take the money out, just 50k on bank transfer, it got blocked and my account was frozen and i needed to speak to natwest fraud department to unlock my account.  i had to explain to them where the large amount of money came from, so it is very easy to get your account frozen and investigated.