Police swoop on solicitors

MONEY LAUNDERING: four solicitors and paralegal released on bail while inquiries continue

Four solicitors and a paralegal were arrested in connection with alleged money laundering last week in Lancashire by police working on Operation Norfolk, a huge drug trafficking investigation.

The police did not name the solicitors but said that all five people were from different firms, all of which were searched, and documents and computer equipment taken away for examination.

Three of the solicitors and the paralegal - all men younger than 50 - were arrested last Wednesday with seven other non-lawyers.

Simultaneously, a non-lawyer from Burnley was arrested in Malaga on Spain's Costa Del Sol, where he is still being held in custody pending an application for his extradition to the UK.

The fourth solicitor was arrested last Friday.

All those arrested in the UK were questioned and released on police bail without charge while the crime squad's inquiries continue.

They must report back to the police in September.

Operation Norfolk secured convictions against 11 suppliers of hard drugs last year.

The Law Society and the Lancashire Constabulary assisted the police with the investigation.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'We have also drawn the attention of the profession to recent legislation, which puts an obligation on solicitors to report any suspicion of money laundering.'

Meanwhile, former solicitor Andrew Rutherford Warren - extradited to the US earlier this year on charges of money laundering - has pleaded guilty to attempted 'enterprise corruption' in connection with an international stock fraud conspiracy operating in New York and the UK (see [2003] Gazette, 25 April, 3).

Mr Warren, a 56-year-old former partner with now-defunct London firm Talbot Creggy & Co, faces a prison sentence of up to five years when he is sentenced in August.

John Moscow, a deputy bureau chief for the New York District Attorney, said: 'Lawyers should not falsify documents, set up false companies, lie to the authorities and otherwise assist criminals.

They are supposed to be loyal to the law and not to crime.'

Jeremy Fleming