Criminalization of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in Qatar - Term Paper Example

The paper “The Criminalization of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in Qatar, Measures to Combat Money Laundering Crimes" is a convincing variant of a term paper on social science. Money laundering is the process in which money obtained illegally is channeled to other financial mediums to legitimize it. The activity is done to cover the trail that might be used to establish its source. GCC countries; Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, have been blamed for their money laundering activities that lead to their support of terrorist activities.

The US government increased its efforts to combat money laundering activities, especially after 9/11. The advancement of IT has given way to more sophisticated channels to monitor financial activities amongst individuals. Some of the developed programs can flag suspicious activities in bank accounts. However, money launderers have device other ways to clean their money. Qatar has had its fair share of money laundering activities as a member of the GCC. The country ranks second among GCC nations with the lowest risk of engaging in money laundering and terrorism support-related activities (Gardner, 2007).

The following are the reported cases of money laundering and their implications in Qatar: 1) Money laundering in Qatar  The Qatari government criminalized money laundering activities in 2003 after amending the laws enacted in 2002. However, the process left many loopholes that have been exploited by money launderers. The law states that an individual will be convicted when finding materials outlined in the Palermo and Vienna conventions (Gardner, 2007). These are mental elements and physical materials moved for the purposes of laundering.

The crime covers the property obtained from illegal activity and not any other activities that might result from laundered money. The Financial Action Task Force has identified; forgery, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and hoarding notes and coins, terrorist activities, looting, and extortion as the major crimes that propel individuals to money laundering. The government has criminalized terrorist financing (Heng & McDonagh, 2008). However, prosecutors have a hard time when prosecuting individuals facing terrorism charges.

The law is limited to pursuing the channel into which the individuals are financed. The law on hand makes it easy for criminals to launder their dirty money. They follow the basic steps of money laundering; placement, layering, and integration (Levi & Gilmore, 2002). During placing, the cash is disposed of to a financial system using sophisticated techniques to evade the monitoring process. Later the cash will be layered is done through forged documents that are used to represent the transfer of funds to various regions.

The final stages are to integrate the money into the criminals’ hands and legitimize its source. 2) Measures to combat money laundering crimes The Qatari government has collaborated with other countries, especially the US, to fight money laundering activities (Heng & McDonagh, 2008). The state has enforced severe penalties on those engaging in money laundering and terrorist-related activities. Some of the measures are comprehensive confiscation, seizing framework, and freezing of assets.

The act of confiscation is compulsory for all suspects, even when not requested by the prosecutor. The government has separated the investigators and the legal team, to boast autonomy in the process. There are various authorities appointed by the government to assist in the fight against money laundering activities, key among them are the Economic Crimes Prevention Division (ECPD), the State Security Bureau, and the PPO. The GCC has agreed to tackle this issue seriously by working closely with all the stakeholders.

There Gulf cooperation has set up counter-terrorism financing (CTF) and anti-money laundering laws (AML). The two work closely in sharing information. The given measures are close to the same deployed by Qatar; freezing of bank accounts and assets. The measures have a great impact on reducing the rate of financing terror-related activities. Money laundering will still be a major challenge for governments to fight. The money launders are inventing new and sophisticated ways of cleaning their dirty money.

It is upon the government and its stakeholders to advance their strategies and techniques when fighting this vice.