THREE people who came to Jersey to try to launder thousands of pounds of criminal cash have been jailed for a combined total of ten years.
The Royal Court heard yesterday that Muhiddin Umurzokov (50), Anvarjon Eshonkulov (49) and Batsukh Bataa (52) came to the Island in October in an attempt to spend or exchange money that they knew had come from crime.
They admitted 22 separate charges of laundering or attempting to launder money. Umurzokov was jailed for four years and Eshonkulov and Bataa were jailed for three years each.
They changed some of the money into US dollars and euros and swapped Jersey banknotes for Bank of England notes. The trio paid some into other accounts and spent some on iPads, iPhones, Apple watches and clothes.
They also tried to buy a car and a gold and diamond watch – but were told they could not pay for the items in cash.
When arrested at the Elizabeth Terminal on the evening of Thursday 28 October, they claimed they had come to Jersey to celebrate Umurzokov’s birthday. But Crown Advocate David Hopwood, prosecuting, said: ‘The holiday consisted of little more than meetings with one cashier after another.’
He said that Umurzokov had initially come to Jersey by himself on 8 October. He changed £7,000 into US dollars at the Broad Street Post Office and paid £2,000 into an account at the branch of Lloyd’s Bank also in Broad Street.
He returned to the Island with Eshonkulov and Bataa later that month where they changed more money into dollars and euros and spent some. They visited car dealers and a jeweller’s shop but left when the businesses told them they would not accept cash for large purchases.
When arrested they were found to have £51,668.73 in sterling and 2,550 euros on them altogether.
Advocate Hopwood argued for jail sentences of three years and nine months for Umurzokov, three years for Eshonkulov and two years for Bataa.
All three defence advocates pointed out that their clients were at low risk of reconviction.
The money had been given to them by a crime gang in the UK to launder in Jersey. The three defendants did not know how it came to be in the UK nor how the gang had obtained it but Advocate Hopwood said they could have been in no doubt that it came from crime.
And he dismissed the suggestion that they had been forced to launder the money and had not been offered some inducement to do so.
He said: ‘The Crown say that the idea that there was no reward may be rejected out of hand. The idea that there was a threat may be accepted but given no weight, because it is immaterial.
‘It is wholly implausible that one criminal group carried out all these crimes for another organised crime group without reward.
‘It is wholly implausible that they acted as volunteers.’
Delivering the court’s sentence, Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, presiding, said: ‘The three of you were working as a team to get rid of approximately £53,000 that was plainly the proceeds of criminal conduct, that for one reason or another found its way to the UK.
‘It is clear that all three of you were personally and directly involved in this offending.’
He also recommended that Umurzokov and Eshonkulov be deported from Jersey.
Speaking after the sentence, Detective Inspector Aiden Quenault, from the Joint Financial Crime Unit, said: ‘The multi-agency response shows the strong stance that Jersey takes against money laundering; and to the ability of the Island as a whole to identify, disrupt, investigate and prosecute serious financial crime offences.
‘We’d particularly like to thank the Jersey businesses who were alert to the signs of money laundering and raised the alarm. We all have a responsibility to look out for suspicious activity.’
