Prosecution for money laundering in the UK

Reports briefly the state of money laundering research on the UK; it is not really known how much goes on, but an estimate was made in 1998 that about £2.5 billion was being laundered though the UK financial system. Asks why there have been so few prosecutions: 357 in the years from 1987 and 1998 in England and Wales. Outlines five areas where prosecutors have been hampered in attacking money launderers: inadequate suspicious transaction reporting, inadequate law enforcement resources, the fragmented legislation, relative neglect of money laundering because of investigative and prosecutorial discretion, and the problems of obtaining evidence in a field characterised by sophisticated criminality.