Money-launderer fined R10 million

LONDON -- A businessman who masterminded what was dubbed Europe's largest money-laundering operation was jailed on Thursday for 14 years and fined R10 million.

Ussama El-Kurd's modest lifestyle and meanness toward his employees belied his role processing an estimated R700m in a secret counting house in the basement of a drab bureau de change in the west city.

He claimed he made barely enough to live on, forcing staff to take buses instead of taxis to banks and travel agents to change six-figure fortunes.

In reality, his bureau de change was "open house" to the ill-gotten gains of British criminals, the court in central London was told.

Jerusalem-born El-Kurd, 50, was convicted of four money-laundering charges after a trial lasting more than five months.

Judge John Samuels told El-Kurd, who amassed a personal fortune of around R20m, that he had "seized the opportunity avariciously to enrich yourself to a fabulous extent".

Middleman Peter McGuinness, 50, who jumped bail two weeks ago, received a 10-year sentence in his absence for ferrying at least R100m from criminal gangs in north-west England to the bureau.

The case involved low-value sterling notes being exchanged for high-value foreign ones, mainly Dutch guilders, German marks, Spanish pesetas and Swiss francs. -- Sapa-AFP