Mirror Lawyer : Is money laundering a crime?
Dear Mirror Lawyer, What is money laundering and how can the authorities come to the conclusion that a transfer of money through the approved banking system constitutes money laundering?
Dear Owusu, Money laundering is a victimless crime and many people have no idea about its presence or that it has been committed. It has none of the drama associated with robbery, rape, murder or any of the fear that violent crime places on the minds of people, yet money laundering can only take place after any of the established crimes (such as a robbery or housebreaking or drug dealing) has taken place.
It is the lack of information about money laundering that is available to the person on the street which makes it an invisible problem and hence difficult to tackle.
Its very nature is one of the challenges governments face in combating this type of crime.
Money laundering is the process by which large amounts of illegally obtained money (from drug trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes) is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source.
Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, the reality is that hundreds of billions of dollars of criminally derived money is laundered through financial institutions annually.
The nature of the services and products offered by the financial services industry (namely managing, controlling and possessing money and property belonging to others) means that it is vulnerable to abuse by money launderers.
If done successfully, it allows the criminals to maintain control over their proceeds and ultimately to provide a legitimate cover for their source of income.
Money laundering plays a fundamental role in facilitating the ambitions of the drug trafficker, the terrorist, the organised criminal, the insider dealer, the tax evader as well as the many others who need to avoid the kind of attention from the authorities that sudden wealth brings (from illegal activities).
By engaging in this type of activity, it is hoped to place the proceeds beyond the reach of any asset forfeiture laws.
Money laundering is commonly defined as occurring in three steps: the first step involves introducing cash into the financial system by some means ("placement"); the second involves carrying out complex financial transactions to camouflage the illegal source ("layering"); and the final step entails acquiring wealth generated from the transactions of the illicit funds ("integration").
The law in Ghana dealing with this type of crime is the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008, Act 749.
Under that law, a person commits an offence of money laundering if the person knows or ought to have known that property is or forms part of the proceeds of unlawful activity and the person (a) converts, conceals, disguises or transfers the property; (b) conceals or disguises the unlawful origin of the property; Or (c) acquires, uses or takes possession of the property.
The law further states that for the purpose of the Act, unlawful activity means conduct which constitutes a serious offence, financing of a terrorist act or contravening of any law within the financial sector.
The penalty for money laundering is summary conviction to a fine of not more than five thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than 12 months and not more than ten years or both.
The law also establishes a Financial Intelligence Centre to
(a) assist in the identification of proceeds of unlawful activity and the combat of money laundering activities;
( b) make information available to investigating authorities, the intelligence agencies and the revenue agencies to facilitate the administration and enforcement of the laws of the Republic; and
(c) exchange information with similar bodies in other countries as regards money laundering activities and similar offences.
