Dutch authorities have seized more than £60 million from a company linked to the 1983 Brink's-Mat gold bullion robbery at Heathrow, nearly double the £26 million originally stolen. The offshore firm, MCL Netherlands, was owned by British former solicitor's clerk Geoffrey Greenlees, who was wanted in connection with the heist but died five years ago in Manila at age 84 without being caught.
Details of the Seizure
Financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported on Monday that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service issued a penalty order of £60 million against MCL in 2024. Over £40 million of that sum went to Australian tax authorities, with the remainder transferred to the Dutch Treasury. The seizure was based on 'money laundering without an underlying offense,' meaning prosecutors could not determine which crime generated the cash.
Greenlees had hidden his ownership through a complex web of shell companies in Curaçao, Australia, and the Cayman Islands. MCL, established in 1981, invested in Australian food industry firms. ING, the bank where MCL held over £60 million, began questioning Greenlees's past in 2015, leading to the seizure of accounts in early 2017.
Links to the Brink's-Mat Robbery
A Daily Mirror investigation last year revealed that Greenlees was accused of banking £4.1 million raised from the robbery in Dubai. He had escaped to Manila, where he was patron of the Philippine Lawn Bowls Association. The robbers split the gold in two; Greenlees was suspected of helping to launder the same half that M25 killer Kenneth Noye was convicted of handling.
Greenlees was named as a shareholder and director of shell companies in the leaked Panama Papers of 2016. He had earlier been mentioned at the Old Bailey in connection with the Brink's-Mat gang through Jean Savage, common-law wife of robber John 'Little Legs' Lloyd. Savage's 1990 trial heard that she deposited £2.5 million in plastic bags of £50 notes at a Bank of Ireland branch, which grew to £4.1 million before being transferred to Greenlees's account in Dubai.
Broader Investigation
Ex-Brink's-Mat detective Tony Curtis told the Mirror last year that he flew to Jakarta to track Greenlees down but found 'no sign of him.' Greenlees ended up in Manila, where a Facebook tribute said he 'died peacefully beside his family members.'
The other half of the robbery proceeds was hidden offshore with help from Adam Hosein, who was questioned over the 1969 murder of Muriel McKay. Hosein, who laundered money for drug lord Pablo Escobar, provided legal and business introductions for a middleman laundering the gold proceeds. The BBC drama 'The Gold' depicted Scotland Yard's efforts to trace the heist proceeds.
Ex-detective Ian Brown said: 'When this crime happened the most scared people of anybody were the villains because they were stuck with gold - what are they going to do with it? They were used to 10 grand, 20 grand for a robbery and they can hide that and spend it. But you can't with £26 million.' He added that the proceeds have likely multiplied many times over, earning hundreds of millions of pounds.
