The Hungarian police caught an international money laundering team

Two Hungarian and one Nigerian citizen started their activity in 2014. All the money was from crimes committed abroad.

The Budapest Police Headquarters of district 5 is accusing a Nigerian man of money laundering. The man convinced people to open bank accounts under their own names, but he used these accounts to be able to launder money, writes police.hu.

35-year-old O.A. asked a man back in 2014 to open a bank account, to which money was sent from foreign countries. The person who got roped in took out 9 million forints (EUR 24,999) from the account and gave it to the Nigerian man, and got 50,000 forints (EUR 139) in return for the favour.

Just one year later, the Nigerian citizen asked the other man for a second time to open another account. He sent money in dollars to the account, worth 13 million forints (now $41,883). The money was from fraud against a Norwegian company. The Hungarian man took out the money again and got 900,000 forints (EUR 2499.87)  in return.

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In September 2015, a second Hungarian man joined the team. He was recruited by someone who already had some experience in money laundering. This time, the money was originally sent in dollars, and it was worth 4.5 million forints (EUR 12,500). The man got 400,000 forints (EUR 1,111) out of the deal. The police have recently interrogated Mihály J. and Márk J. The police finished the investigation regarding O.A. and sent the documents to the prosecutor.

Depending on the sum of money that was laundered, the verdict may differ. It could be 5 years, 2-8 years or 5-10 years. If someone prearranges money laundering, they could get 1 year in jail.

The Penal Code says that if someone does not know about the money through negligence, they can still be sentenced to up to 2 years in prison. That is if the person hides, transforms, devolves wealth, contributes to its alienation, uses it, engages in financial activities in the context of it, uses or has a financial service, writes ujbtk.hu.

The case of the three suspects is still developing. Their sentence is not known as of now.

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