A former Barclays bank manager was found guilty of laundering £255,000

A former Barclays Bank manager has been found guilty of assisting in the laundering of criminal proceeds.

Heather Smalley pleaded guilty to entering into an arrangement to assist in the laundering of £255K (€299K) at Warwick Crown Court and was sentenced to two years in prison with a two-year suspension.

Ms Smalley, a Coventry branch manager, had been with the bank for 14 years.

She arranged to sell bags of £20 and £10 notes to an unidentified man six times between February and October 2020 in exchange for "clean" £50 notes.

The amounts in each transaction ranged from £25K (€29K) to £65K (€76K), for a total of £255K (€299K) exchanged.

Prosecutors said this method of exchanging cash without an audit trail of it passing through a customer's bank account "uns against Barclays Bank’s anti-money-laundering policies," which limit cash exchanges to £100.

"Smalley held a position of responsibility at the bank and, as an experienced manager, she must have known that her actions were contrary to the bank’s money-laundering rules," said Andrew Cant of the Crown Prosecution Service's Proceeds of Crime Division.

Ms Smalley must also perform 150 hours of unpaid work and wear an electronic tag for three months, in addition to paying £510 in costs and a victim surcharge.

By fLEXI tEAM