Money launderer linked to multibillion-dollar ring had £1m in Scottish notes

A man who was part of a multibillion-dollar money laundering network run by two Russian millionaires and used by UK drug dealers to hide criminal cash was caught with more than £1 million in Scottish notes.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed the network has been brought down in an international sting.

One of those involved was Ukrainian national Ruslan Kaziuk, 43, who was stopped at Dover in Kent in March 2023 with £2.1 million in taped up packages of cash.

HMRC has now said more than half of the cash he was carrying was in Scottish bank notes.

Kaziuk was stopped by Border Force officers while trying to leave the UK in a Ukrainian-registered Mercedes van, HMRC said.

He declared just £500 in cash but officers found packages containing £2.1 million when searching the van.

They were packed inside a door of the van, plus in three cardboard boxes and two shopping bags.

HMRC said he was charged with money laundering and under the Proceeds of Crime Act, pleading guilty on the first day of trial at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent in September 2023.

He was jailed for five years and eight months.

HMRC fraud investigation service director Richard Las said: “This is a huge win for UK law enforcement and full credit should go to the National Crime Agency for leading such a complex operation.

“I’m pleased we were able to play our part, alongside our Border Force colleagues, in bringing Ruslan Kaziuk to justice.

“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. It robs our public services of much-needed money and it funds other organised criminality that harms our communities in Scotland and across the UK.

“Anyone with information about money laundering can contact HMRC online.”

Kaziuk was just one figure in the network targeted by the NCA in Operation Destabilise.

So far 84 arrests have been made, and £20 million seized within the UK.

The NCA worked with law enforcement in the US, Ireland, Jersey and France to bring down the network, which reached across 30 countries.

Rob Jones, NCA director general of operations said: “Operation Destabilise has exposed billion-dollar money laundering networks operating in a way previously unknown to international law enforcement or regulators.”

The network was used by Russian-speaking hackers with millions in cryptocurrency that they needed to turn into cash and assets, as well as street gangs in Britain who had physical money they needed to launder.

Irish cartel the Kinahans are also accused of using the system, run by two networks called Smart and TGR, to get cryptocurrency in return for cash.

Even the Russian state used the secretive network to get money to spies based in other countries, and it is also claimed it was used to move funds from the state-controlled TV network RT, formerly Russia Today, to journalists based in the UK.

Russian citizens placed under sanctions amid the war in Ukraine took advantage of the network to disguise the origin of their cash and buy property in Britain, the NCA said.

Smart was run by Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national said to have been born in Siberia before making it in the financial industry and building up connections in Moscow.

She was arrested in France, and had already been sanctioned by the US last year.

Georgy Rossi, whose current whereabouts are unknown, was the boss of TGR – and also came from a background in Russian banking before relocating to Europe.

They are both believed to have made millions of pounds from money laundering, charging around 3% for transactions involving billions.