Belgian Legal Policy on Money Laundering

Date01 March 1993
Pages234-244
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb025625
Published date01 March 1993
AuthorBrice de Ruyver
Subject MatterAccounting & finance
Belgian Legal Policy on Money Laundering
Professor Dr Brice de Ruyver
Professor Dr Brice de Ruyver
the Department of Criminal Law and
Criminology, University of Ghent,
Belgium.
He is also a member of the
Editorial Board of Journal of Asset
Protection and Financial Crime.
ABSTRACT
Growing international pressure in the form
of agreements, directives and recommen-
dations has prompted new legislation for
the prevention of money laundering in
Belgium.
This paper considers the various
international initiatives and looks at how
Belgium has responded. In particular, it dis-
cusses the act of 17th July, 1990, and the
role of the banking sector.
THE RUN-UP
Belgium, as a country, tends to drag its
feet when it comes to adapting to inter-
national developments, particularly in
the field of judicial law. The inter-
national treaties on criminal law are a
case in point. Although most of them do
get signed, only a few are ratified so they
remain dead letter in Belgium.
In 1992, however, a change seemed to
take place. The results of a survey on
cross-border crime called attention to
the troubled state of the police and
judiciary system on the eve of
1993.1
A
number of MPs also brought attention
to the problem. The Justice Minister
resolved to make up for lost time and
announced, among other changes, the
ratification of the Schengen agreements
before the end of 1993.
The adjustment of national legislation
was long overdue. In the 1980s it
appeared that the police and the judicial
system possessed neither the necessary
know-how nor a suitable legal frame-
work to provide an adequate response to,
notably, organised crime.2 Moreover,
Belgium still had to define its role
within the strategies against inter-
national organised crime that were being
drafted at European and global level. In
this context, efforts were particularly
directed at drug trafficking, but activities
involving the mafia and other crime
syndicates, such as EC fraud, illegal
waste trade, social fraud and money
laundering, were also brought up for
consideration.3 The recent political
developments in Europe gave top
priority to the optimisation of coopera-
tion in the field of police law and justice.
The EC Maastricht summit demon-
strated that European leaders were aware
of the importance of this.
The enlarged European market
threatens to become the breeding
ground for organised crime. Some years
ago,
M. Andreotti, then Italian Prime
Minister, warned the European Com-
munity against what he portrayed as
234

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