Where Can He Go From Here?

July 2021 Martin Woods

Earlier this month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) announced the settlement of a case, which resulted in an accountant from Stockport in Cheshire agreeing to forfeit £1.9 million within the terms of a civil recovery order.

It is reported, Abid Naveed of Heald Green, Cheadle, Stockport, was engaged in a wide range of criminality including money laundering, and mortgage fraud. Specifically, it is alleged he played an active role in laundering £160 million in cash over a period of two and a half years, through a money service business in Manchester, called Mian International Ltd.

Yes, that is a lot of money and allowing for public holidays as well as a day of rest each Sunday, this breaks down to approximately £210,000 each business day. So, who is Abid Naveed and where does he take his business post this settlement?

Abid Naveed

Well, he is an accountant and as such, he deals with other peoples’ money and finances. Given this settlement, many anti-money laundering (AML) practitioners will ponder, who are/were his clients and where did their money come from. Using Kompli Global, I have undertaken research to try and see what else is know about Mr. Naveed, which may help AML practitioners to make informed risk decisions, should your firm contemplate undertaking business with Mr. Naveed.

There is an Abid Naveed of an address in Heald Green, Cheadle, Stockport who is shown to have been and currently be the director/PSC/shareholder of 14 UK incorporated companies. Five of the companies remain active, although Mr. Naveed is only a director/PSC of three of the companies. One of the other companies is owned and controlled by a person with the same surname, who is shown as residing at the same address as Mr. Naveed.

Using Kompli Global it is possible to expediently connect Mr. Naveed to other individuals he has worked alongside as directors of companies and to addresses where these companies have operated or continue to operate from.

Presently he is shown as the only named owner (PSC) and director of a company called Financial Services & Advice Limited, which is registered at the address in Heald Green, Cheadle, Stockport. Of course, this once again will cause AML practitioners to ponder what kind of advice and services are being provided by the company and to whom?

So where does he bank after agreeing to such a settlement? What kind of ongoing due diligence and transaction monitoring must a bank/firm apply to such a customer and do the profits justify the expenditure?

New Monitoring

In the event you as an AML practitioner determine not only to refuse to give Mr. Naveed account, but you also want to avoid receiving payments from or making payments to Mr. Naveed and his companies, what can you do? Well, you can apply his name, the names of his companies and his address/es to your transaction monitoring ‘block, do not do business with’ list. But, what if Mr. Naveed incorporates a new company next week, how do you avoid transacting to or from such a company? The answer is to use Kompli Global to monitor Mr. Naveed and his addresses, in order to identify any new companies, he incorporates or becomes connected to. This way you can avoid Mr. Naveed, his business and that of his customers, whoever they may be.

It’s not all about negative media, it now includes corporate developments, new company formations, new company appointments and connections. Now some readers are immediately asserting this is unnecessary and I won’t argue with you. Historically people have said the same about insurance and it only became necessary after the event, by which time, it was too late. Moreover, this presents as proactive monitoring, which demonstrates to regulators a culture of a firm/bank on the front foot, using intelligence, managing risk and seeking to stop potential money laundering.

Think about it, £210,000 in cash every business day - high risk