SFO Director, Rosalind Wright, warns of the rise in international money laundering. Speaking at the 19th International Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime today, Mrs Wright said that money laundering, despite improvements in deterrence measures and success in prosecutions, is increasing. She calls on legal and financial practitioners to be alert to being used as a link in the chain of crime and to question transactions of a dubious nature.
Key elements of the speech:
1. Assisting criminals has a corrupting and corrosive effect on professionals who associate with them. Laundering the proceeds of crime corrupts individuals, organisations and governments. The flight of money can impoverish nations.
2. Launderers will undertake a series of movements of illicit funds by scattering them through accounts in banks around the globe, particularly in jurisdictions that do not co-operate in money laundering investigations.
3. A campaign (by the Financial Action Task Force) to name and shame countries with lax controls that make it easy for money launderers is achieving results. Yet, more countries need to address the problem. Money laundering is prevalent where there are corrupt, negligent or unaccountable governments.
4. Acts of major fraud can span jurisdictions. Perpetrators, victims and place of business may be in different countries. Where does the offence take place? This brings the challenge of establishing which jurisdictional authority should proceed with the case. Developing good relations with, and the sharing of information between, various national authorities is vital.
5. The laundering of funds from dubious sources through legitimate professional practices should be stripped of any notion of respectability. The pernicious nature of money laundering should be explained to the public as it provides motivation for underlying crimes. Professionals in the legal and financial world who provide services to clients must look long and hard at questionable transactions.
A copy of the speech can be found at SPEECHES
