Anti-Money Laundering legislation imposes certain obligations on solicitors when they deal with a client and, in particular, where they know or suspect that the result of a legal transaction (a house sale, a sale of shares etc) is to transfer assets that derive from the proceeds of criminal conduct.
The Act creates a number of criminal offences and solicitors are subject to severe criminal sanctions, both fines and imprisonment, if they breach their obligations under the Act.
– a legal brief from Holland Condon Solicitors Kilkenny