EUROPEAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING
EUROPEAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING

Summary/Abstract: Ever since its emergence in the modern variant, the money laundering phenomenon has acquired an international character through the rapid dissemination both of the idea that in order to prevent the detection of illegal activities the proceeds coming from such activities should be concealed as better as possible through means liable to confer on them a lawful appearance for the purpose of being introduced easier into the economic circuit without the risk of being detected, as well as of the finding that one of the most efficient way of concealment is money laundering by means of international financial transactions. Criminal proceeds are easier to launder if they are converted into a foreign currency, and are brought again under such form in the country with a view to being capitalized as laundered amounts. In order to combat the money laundering phenomenon, it is necessary to take firm measures and the close co-operation of the bodies and organisations authorised to fight against this phenomenon. If not, there is the risk that the laundered money may become the “engine” of the economy and impose its own rules, which actually means the undermining or even the dissolution of state authority and the rule of Mafia-type arbitrariness.

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