A district judge has slammed a bank for failing to assist a Wiltshire Police investigation.
Earlier this year at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, Barclays was ordered to freeze a bank account belonging to a Purton man who was being investigated for money laundering.
On Wednesday (29 September), financial investigator Lou Martin told the same court that the bank had not cooperated with its requests as part of the serious crime investigation.
District judge Joanna Dickens said it was “terrifying” that Barclays ignored the court order.
“I’m shocked that they’re not responding to you, I’m shocked that they are not cooperating with you”, she exclaimed.
Adding: “If Barclays bank is not even responding to a court order, this is a serious thing.
“I think a letter should be written, saying the court, obviously I am the court today, was pretty appalled at their lack of response.”
Judge Dickens was forced to withdraw the freezing order.
“I’ve never seen anything like it … their lack of cooperation concerns me”, she remarked.
A Barclays spokesperson told Wiltshire 999s: “We take the views of the court extremely seriously, however, as this relates to court proceedings it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
