Fire...Aim...Ready

I recall a sketch in "Not The Nine O'Clock News" which was a parody of the consumer programme "That's Life". Pamela Stephenson was doing a grotesque but hilarious impersonation of Esther Rantzen.
The gist of it was that a family ordered a fridge which worked perfectly. However, from the moment it entered the house, other things started going wrong in their lives - accidents, car crashes and the like. On every occasion, they rang the Electricity Board and on each occasion they were told "This has nothing to do with us" , a line delivered incredulously by the presenter.
What jogged my memory was a tweet from the BBC's Robert Peston following the news that Gaddifi's UK assets had been frozen. He wondered what the banks had done to establish that the Libyan leader's assets were obtained legitimately.
Now, Mr. Peston did an excellent job in exposing astonishing levels of greed feather-nesting and downright stupidity within the banks and hats off to him for that.
It is reasonable to assume, however, that whilst the political West was cuddling up to the Colonel over recent years, there would have been no objection from the authorities to our new best mate having a bank account.
Banks have a statutory and moral duty to report any suspicions regarding the source of funds or assets. Indeed, failure to do so would not only result in massive fines but the member of staff who failed to report his or her suspicions can be thrown in jail.
If I wandered into my local Barclays with a suitcase full of cash, I would expect a degree of questioning. What I do not expect my bank to do is interrogate me on  where I got the money to buy my house and where my hard-earned savings come from nor should they act as judge and jury as to the legitimacy or otherwise of my assets.
If they think that I may be assisting criminals with Money Laundering or Drug Running or illicit arms dealing, I would not expect the cashier to leap over the counter and arrest me on the spot. I expect that they would quietly fill in a form and leave it to the relevant authorities to decide what, if any, action were required.
Banks are an easy target and continue to make themselves so, in some cases. However, Mr P. should remember that the correct order is Ready....Aim....Fire!