Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism

What is Money Laundering?

Money Laundering is the process by which criminals attempt to conceal the true origin and ownership of the proceeds of criminal activities. If successful, the money can lose its criminal identity and appear legitimate.

Illegal arms sales, smuggling, and the activities of organised crime, including for example, drug trafficking and prostitution, can generate huge sums. Embezzlement, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes can also produce large profits and create the incentive to "legitimise" the ill-gotten gains through money laundering. When a criminal activity generates substantial profits, the individual or group involved must find a way to control the funds without attracting attention to the underlying activity or the persons involved. Criminals do this by disguising the sources, changing the form, or moving the funds to a place where they are less likely to attract attention.

In summary, the money launderer wants to:-

1. place his money in the financial system, without arousing suspicion;
2. move the money around, often in a series of complex transactions crossing multiple jurisdictions, so it becomes difficult to identify its original source; and
3. then move the money back into the financial and business system, so that it appears as legitimate funds or assets.

What is Terrorist Financing?

United Nations 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism explains terrorist financing in the following way:

""Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person by any means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and wilfully, provides or collects funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out"

(a) An act which constitutes an offence within the scope of and as defined in one of the treaties listed in the annex (see 1-9 below); or

(b) Any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act."

The Convention also indicates that a person still commits an offence even if:

• the funds are not used to carry out an offence in (a) and (b) above;
• a person attempts to commit an offence as described above;
• a person participates as an accomplice in an offence as above; and
• a person organises or directs others to commit an offence as above, or contributes to the commission of one or more offences as above by a group of persons acting with a common purpose, where the contribution is intentional and is made with the aim of furthering the criminal activity or criminal purpose of the group, where such activity involves the commission of an offence as above, or is made in the knowledge of the intention of the group to commit an offence as above

1. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, done at The Hague on 16 December 1970.
2. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 23 September 1971.
3. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1973.
4. International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 17 December 1979.
5. Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, adopted at Vienna on 3 March 1980.
6. Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 24 February 1988.
7. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, done at Rome on 10 March 1988.
8. Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf, done at Rome on 10 March 1988.
9. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 15 December 1997.