Money laundering consequences. Recovering wealth, piercing secrecy, disrupting tax havens and distorting international law
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-12-2013-0048 |
| Date | 08 July 2014 |
| Pages | 296-305 |
| Published date | 08 July 2014 |
| Author | M. Michelle Gallant |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial compliance/regulation |
Money laundering consequences
Recovering wealth, piercing secrecy,
disrupting tax havens and distorting
international law
M. Michelle Gallant
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to take an overarching analytical perspective on four decades
of money laundering regulation.
Design/methodology/approach – This study extracts the principal impacts of anti-money
laundering (AML) regulation through a distillation of money laundering research.
Findings – The most signicant impacts of money laundering regulation are some recovery of tainted
wealth, modest increases in the visibility of global nancial transactions, disruption of tax haven
jurisdictions and some distortions to international law.
Research limitations/implications – This study offers a glimpse of the wider impacts of money
laundering underscoring the need for empirical work.
Originality/value – The originality lies in linking developments in discrete elds to money
laundering regulation.
Keywords Money laundering, International law, Tax, Forfeiture, Secrecy
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Money laundering regulation emerged in the later part of the twentieth century as a
strategy for dealing with the global trade in illegal drugs. It is based on the idea that
criminal activity with signicant nancial underpinnings can better be tempered by the
specic targeting of those underpinnings. It is a strategic approach that has grown
strikingly over the course of ⬎30 years, expanding from drug crimes to tax evasion, to
corruption, to organized crime and to terrorism. It has stretched to cover all manner of
nancial activity, from the deposit of monies into bank accounts to visa declarations and
casinos operations, and from donations to charitable entities to the delivery of
professional services. It has spawned a modern regulatory environment forged of
international treaties, of domestic law, of guidelines, of recommendations, of principles,
of policies, of practices and of commitments.
An ambitious project, the impact of this initiative is often the subject of dispute, much
of which centers on whether regulation adequately, if at all, moderates criminal activity.
Rather than entering into that debate, this paper takes a long view of three decades of
development and identies ve particular consequences attributable to money
laundering regulation. Ranging from the deprivation of tainted wealth to attending to
tax havens and the opacity of international nance, these consequences, not all clearly
foreseen, demonstrate tangible impacts of the regulatory effort.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1368-5201.htm
JMLC
17,3
296
Journal of Money Laundering Control
Vol. 17 No. 3, 2014
pp. 296-305
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1368-5201
DOI 10.1108/JMLC-12-2013-0048
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