Money Laundering Internationally

• Author: Oana Chicos
• Pages: 74-78

MONEY LAUNDERING INTERNATIONALLY

Assistant professor Oana CHICOŞ1

Abstract

Being an organized crime activity, money laundering has become a major issue in recent decades. From the

point of view of the general consideration of the notion of "money laundering", the context of this crime as a whole is to

legalize an illegal income. Money laundering is and will remain a complex and dynamic phenomenon of great diversity,

both in the public and private spheres, manifesting itself both actively and passively, being also a phenomenon

unrecognizable to ordinary people. R egarding the content of the offense, it is presumed that it is a crime without victim,

being considered without "emotional implications" in the offense category. The word best describing this type of offense

is "discretion" because this kind of crime is one of the most difficult to identify, and one of the difficulties encountered by

the investigators. Money laun dering includes various methods and procedures that make it possible to obtain money or

other assets from the illegal activity and conceal by disguising their origin o r by giving a seemingly legal aspect of their

source. Thus, it becomes one of the most widespread types of economic fraud, both nationally a nd internationally.

Keywords: crime, money laundering, international money laundering, criminal law, international la w.

JEL Classification: K14, K33

1. Considerations on money laundering

One of the first uses in a public document of the term "money laundering" dates back to 1973

and is attributed to the Guardian newspaper, which used it during the “Watergate”2 scandal.

In the specialized doctrine, it is mentioned that in China, about 2000 years ago, wealth traders

hid their wealth from the rulers in order not to risk losing them on the basis of measures or provisions

of the authorities.3

The phrase "money laundering" has been used since the twentieth centur y, being associated

with the famous Al Capone, which in its full ban opened in Chicago, many laundry washes to disguise

the illicit source of income from alcohol, from prostitution or from smuggling with weapons, wanting

to create the impression that all the revenues that were recorded in the accounting were of legal

origin.4

Also, the expression "money laundering" has also been associated with another gangster,

Meyer Lanski5, who transferred to Switzerland by using a complex system of ghost companies,

holdings and accounts on behalf of offshore companies, "dirty mone y" obtained from committing

offenses in the USA.

Considering the term "money laundry" or "money laundering", some authors felt that this was

the heart of organized crime, that is, what made it exist.6

2. The term of money laundering in Romanian legislation

Money laundering means masking the illegal source of money or other gains through

organized crime in the financial and economic circuit. The purpose of money laundering is to make

1 Oana Chicoş - "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galaţi, Romania, oana_koh@yahoo.ro.

2 According to The Guardian, the Presidential Re-election Committee Richard Nixon ordered the transfer of certain funds to Mexican

banks, and then these funds were transferred to a Miami company (see also J. Robinson, Washman, Ed. P ocket Books, 2nd edition,

1998).

3 I. Melinescu, I. Italianu, Financial Investigations in Money Laundering, National Printing Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004, p. 7;

C. Bogdan, Money Laundering, Universul Juridic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2010, p. 14; A. A. Dumitrache, Money Laundering,

Universul Juridic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013, p. 10.

4 M. Mutu, Money laundering - legal-criminal aspects, PhD thesis, Chisinau, 2005, p. 19.

5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_Lansky, consulted on 1.04.2019.

6 Rancé Pierre, de Baynast Olivier, L'Europe judiciaire. Enjeux et perspectives, Paris, Dalloz, 2001, p. 89.