The London Guardian is alleging that the famous 'Global Laundromat' money-laundering scheme, which ceased operating in 2014, used British banks extensively.

The paper says that it has seen documents that prove that British banks processed almost US$740 million. Russian criminals ran the laundromat with the apparent approval of the Russian Government - the UK's National Crime Agency is itself saying that the Russians are refusing to give it the investigative help on the matter to which it is entitled under international agreements. David Little, the head of the agency's money-laundering desk, told the paper: “The amount of Russian money coming into the UK is a concern. We don’t have enough co-operation. They won’t tell us whether it comes from the proceeds of crime.”

The Guardian revealed that police in Moldova and Latvia have been looking into the movement of - and, indeed, have tracked down - at least $20bn out of Russia between 2010 and 2014, saying that it might even amount to $80 million. Its reason for valuing everything in dollars stems presumably from the status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Compliance Matters approached the banks that were said to have washed the most money. HSBC, which is said to have processed $545.3 million in laundromat cash, most of it going through its Hong Kong branch, said: "HSBC is strongly committed to fighting financial crime. The bank has systems and processes in place to identify suspicious activity and report it to the appropriate government authorities. This case highlights the need for greater information sharing between the public and private sectors, each of whom holds important information the other does not."

An RBS spokesperson, when asked about the amount of $113.1 million, said: “We are committed to combatting financial crime and money laundering in line with our regulations and have controls and safeguards in place to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate these risks.”

Coutts, which RBS owns and which is said to have inadvertently helped the laundrymen wash a mere $32 million, was also covered by that statement.

Standard Chartered, which is said to have processed $28.6 million, said: "In line with our commitment to preventing fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing, we will investigate any indications of suspicious activity and if appropriate report those findings to law enforcement."

UBS is thought to have handled $7.8 million, Citibank $2.8 million, Barclays $2.5 million and ING Bank $2.4 million.

The scheme's mastermind, according to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, was Veaceslav Platon, a Moldavian businessman in his forties.  Moldovan law enforcers believe him to be linked to money laundering and the theft of billions of dollars from banks, the state and businesses in the former Soviet bloc states, including Moldova itself. Platon has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $40 million from Banca de Economii, a Moldovan bank that has since folded.

The Guardian describes the scam in a nutshell: "Typically, company A “loaned” a large sum of money to company B. Other businesses in Russia – fronted by Moldovans – would then guarantee these 'loans.' Company B would fail to return the 'money.' Moldovan judges would authenticate the 'debt,' allowing Russian companies to transfer real money to a bank in Moldova. From here, the cash went to a bank in Latvia, inside the EU."