Scottish Limited Partnerships (previously) are notorious corporate entities whose true owners are easily disguised, making them perfect vehicles for money laundry.
After revelations about SLPs being used to launder billions looted from the treasuries of former Soviet nations, the Scottish Police revealed that governments all over the world have asked Police Scotland for assistance in tracking down their own stolen billions.
A freedom of information request to Police Scotland revealed overseas law enforcement agencies have asked Scotland’s national police force to probe SLPs on 66 occasions since 2014, with eight such enquiries in 2014, ten in 2015, and then a sharp rise to 26 in 2016 and 22 from January to November 2017.
Of these 66 enquiries since 2014, 47 came from agencies in countries in central and eastern Europe that were either part of the former Soviet Union or the old Soviet bloc.
The highest number of enquiries came from Polish law enforcement, with nine over the four-year period, followed by Ukraine with seven, Lithuania and Latvia each with six and the Czech Republic and Russia with four.
Scots firms with business model tied to $1bn fraud probed [Dan Vevers/Stv]
(via Naked Capitalism)