Properties worth £80m seized under McMafia laws

ORGANISED crime investigators have seized three properties worth a total of £80million under ‘McMafia’ laws.

The National Crime Agency wants the suspected owner of the London buildings, described as a ‘politically exposed person’, to explain how they paid for them.

Three Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) were granted at the High Court last week, forcing the suspect to prove they were not bought using dirty money.

The NCA said the identity of the individual could not be revealed pending investigations. The offshore-owned buildings are subject to restrictions on being sold or transferred during the investigation.

UWOs are dubbed ‘McMafia laws’ after the BBC drama about super-rich foreign gangsters using London as their base.

It is thought that up to £90billion of money linked to organised crime is laundered through the UK every year.

After last year’s nerve agent attacks in Salisbury, the Government said the measure would be at the heart of a crackdown on Russian money in the capital. In September, Whitehall sources said that the NCA could target ‘more than 100’ foreigners within the coming months, with the majority said to be Russian.

But the recent seizure of the three London-based properties is only the second time that the laws have been used, raising questions about their application.

Graeme Biggar, from the NCA, said: ‘The purchase of prime property in London is a tactic used to launder money and we will use all the powers available to us to target those who try to do this.’