Money Laundering Crime

Financial crimes or notably known as white-collar crimes refers widely to nonviolent crimes committed by business professionals. Financial crimes have a deep impact on the society as it affects the economy and the stability of a country. It is a gateway of sourcing criminal activities like mafia operations, drug trafficking, illegal arms dealing and terrorist financing. Financial crimes ca be in the form of credit card fraud, insider trading and money laundering. Money laundering is a large scale financial crime. "The process by which one conceals the existence, illegal source, or illegal application of income, and then disguises that income to make it appear legitimate. Laundering criminally derived proceeds can be a lucrative and sophisticated

Placement –This is the movement of cash from its source. On occasion the source can be easily disguised or misrepresented. This is followed by placing it into circulation through financial institutions, casinos, shops, bureau de change and other businesses, both local and abroad. The process of placement can be carried out through many processes including:

1. Currency Smuggling – This is the physical illegal movement of currency and monetary instruments out of a country. The various methods of transport do not leave a discernible audit trail FATF 1996-1997 Report on Money Laundering Typologies.

2. Bank Complicity – This is when a financial institution, such as banks, is owned or controlled by unscrupulous individuals suspected of conniving with drug dealers and other organised crime groups. This makes the process easy for launderers. The complete liberalisation of the financial sector without adequate checks also provides leeway for

This is dissimilar to layering, for in the integration process detection and identification of laundered funds is provided through informants. The known methods used are:

1. Property Dealing – The sale of property to integrate laundered money back into the economy is a common practice amongst criminals. For instance, many criminal groups use shell companies to buy property; hence proceeds from the sale would be considered legitimate.

2. Front Companies and False Loans – Front companies that are incorporated in countries with corporate secrecy laws, in which criminals lend themselves their own laundered proceeds in an apparently legitimate transaction.

3. Foreign Bank Complicity – Money laundering using known foreign banks represents a higher order of sophistication and presents a very difficult target for law enforcement. The willing assistance of the foreign banks is frequently protected against law enforcement scrutiny. This is not only through criminals, but also by banking laws and regulations of other sovereign