Measuring the Success and the Implementation of Money Laundering Counter-Measures - Dissertation Example

In the last few decades, organized crime, which has come into being, is more sophisticated and global in nature, with even greater proceeds gained from illegal activities. The term money laundering in the modern context encompasses not only the aspect of ‘dirty money but also the act of ‘cleaning,’ or ‘masking,’ the proceeds from various criminal activities to make them seem legal; while at the same time new aspects on money laundering show clear links with global terrorism.

Many of the new counter-measure initiatives have a greater focus on the financial perspective of crimes and on determining criminal assets, to allow confiscation. There is also an increasing focus on financial trials, which tend to link the main criminals with particular acts of crime. Such stringent measures have turned many of the countries into unsafe locations for the criminals, to ‘clean’ their money or lead a luxurious life with no apparent source of income. This paper will briefly explore the various aspects of money laundering while examining in detail some of the measures currently in use to counter money laundering, globally and locally, and analyzing the extent of success in implementing these anti-money laundering measures.

1 Introduction “There are few other examples in history of mankind that so dramatically illustrate such concerted effort to denounce and discourage a practice which even a few years ago was neither understood nor for that matter necessarily considered improper”(B. Rider, 1997, “Editorial”). 1.1 Background history Money laundering even a few decades backs was not clearly understood, far less being considered as an act of criminality. It gained notoriety only during the last two-three decades when we find that the international community brought in various laws and policies as measures to counter money laundering (van Duyne, 1998).