The other Post Office scandal: how organised crime launders money on the high street

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>Hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty money are being deposited at post offices every year. So why are the police reluctant to investigate the scale of the problem?</p><ul><li><p>Last chance to buy the summer issue of The Long Read magazine, now with 15% off. <a href="https://guardianbookshop.com/guardian-long-read-vol-4-9781919464312/?utm_source=theguardian&amp;utm_medium=onplatform&amp;utm_campaign=longreadvol4&amp;utm_content=in-article">Click here</a> to order </p></li></ul><p>Leicestershire police won’t say who first told them about Jigar Gheewala, but you can see why, once they had heard of him, they decided to find out more. Gheewala was unemployed, had no apparent income, yet lived in a £1.3m house and sent his three children to private school. “He was a declared bankrupt, with a bank account that was absolutely not reflective of what it should be,” said financial crime supervisor Laura Panter of Leicestershire police’s economic crime team. “That was our starting point.”</p><p>Over the course of 2020, despite being on benefits, Gheewala’s bank account received more than £880,000 in cash in 200 different deposits. He was, it turned out, a money launderer, but not the kind you’ll see in the movies. Gheewala’s deposits had been made not in Liechtenstein or on Grand Cayman, but at various post office branches in Leicester, one thick wodge of banknotes after another.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/25/other-post-office-scandal-organised-crime-launders-money-high-street">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.