Originally published as Journal of Money Laundering Control, volume 12 issue 2
ISSN: 1368-5201
Guest edited by: Professor Jackie Harvey
The approach to legislating for money laundering has been focussed on providing a widening arsenal of weapons for use by the law enforcement authorities, all the while justified by the righteous belief that criminal financial activity is occurring on a scale that is so vast as to threaten the functioning and integrity of the financial system. Indeed, it would appear that the bigger and more threatening the estimate, reinforced by the zealous assumption of its constant upward spiral (van Duyne et al. 2005), the more likely it is to be adopted (van Duyne 2003, Reuter and Truman 2005, Levi and Reuter 2006, Harvey 2005 and Harvey and Lau 2008). Indeed there is a certain perverse logic in that smaller estimates would invalidate the presumption of threat. In essence, we have produced the perfect win-win situation for the many public and private sector agencies whose existence is justified by these underlying assumptions in what could be viewed as an elaborate ‘hustle’, sheltered behind the symbolic imagery of anti-money laundering apparatus.
Each of the contributors to this special issue has demonstrated the theoretical rigour that is required to lift at least a corner of the veils of ambiguity that cloud objective research in this area. In so doing, each is able to contribute towards the evidence-based building blocks of facts for it is these, rather than threats, myths and imagery that should inform our policy makers and soon, before the regulatory bandwagon moves to embrace the next money laundering directive.
Contents:
- The search for crime money – debunking the myth: facts versus imagery
Jackie Harvey
- The costs of implementing the anti-money laundering regulations in Sweden
Dan Magnusson
- Compliance and AML in Belgium: a booming sector with growing pains
Antoinette Verhage
- To what extent is the UK's anti-money laundering and asset recovery regime used against organised crime?
Peter A. Sproat
- Not only banks: Criminological models on the infiltration of public contracts by Italian organized crime
Stefano Caneppele, Francesco Calderoni, Sara Martocchia
- Hot money, hot stones and hot air: crime-money threat, real estate and real concern
Petrus C. van Duyne, Melvin R.J. Soudijn
- Ten myths about terrorist financing
W.A. Tupman
About Journal of Money Laundering Control
The Journal of Money Laundering Control is specifically designed for all those concerned with the prevention of money laundering. Its objective is to publish analysis, briefings and updates which are of direct relevance to practitioners while meeting the highest intellectual standards.
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