Legal background Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) Money laundering: offences of failing to disclose
Under section 330 and 331 of POCA, it is an offence for a person to fail to disclose that they know or suspect, or have reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that another person is engaged in money laundering and the information comes to them in the course of business in the regulated sector.
	Banks and building societies, who are in the regulated sector, are required by sections 40 and 41 of the Immigration Act 2014 to carry out "status checks" and "immigration checks" on new and existing customers.
	Section 184 creates a defence against the offence of failure to report for persons in the regulated sector whose knowledge or suspicion, or reasonable grounds to know or suspect, only comes to them as a result of those checks.