A recent decision of the Commercial Court considers the position of institutions which suspect that funds in their possession are the proceeds of crime. Amalgamated Metal Trading Ltd v City of London Police Financial Investigation Unit and others [2003] EWHC 703 (Comm) is a warning of the pitfalls of adopting the wrong procedural route when attempting to resolve the conflicts between the money laundering regime and the imposition of civil liability. It also adopts the theme, notable in the earlier Bank of Scotland decision, that institutions must bear some of the commercial risks that arise when money laundering is suspected.
In the Amalgamated Metal case, the claimant, a ring dealing member of the London Metal Exchange (AMT), found itself in a dilemma when it developed concerns about the integrity of one of its customers, a Dubai company known as Wavesmetco. AMT was particularly concerned about the receipt of large sums of money from two groups of companies which had collapsed
