The Cost of Laundry!
| Pages | 172-174 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025702 |
| Published date | 01 March 1995 |
| Date | 01 March 1995 |
| Author | Chizu Nakajima |
MONEY LAUNDERING
The Cost of Laundry!
Chizu Nakajima
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 3 No. 2 — Money Laundering
At a recent meeting of government officials in Tri-
nidad to discuss regional security and in particular
the threat of regional and, indeed, international
dcstabilisation presented by the illicit drug trade,
considerable attention was focused on the role of
offshore financial centres in facilitating the finan-
cial activities of organised crime groups. Of course,
over the years offshore financial centres, typically
on small tropical islands in the Caribbean and
more recently the Pacific, have attracted a certain
amount of criticism. As governments have increas-
ingly recognised the practical importance of taking
the profit out of serious crime, thus attacking both
the motivation for much criminal activity and
undermining liquidity within criminal financial
structures, attention has inevitably been focused on
the attempts of those involved in protecting the
profits of crime to launder it. Ironically when the
Criminal Justice Act 1988 provided the courts with
powers to deprive convicted criminals of the pro-
ceeds of profitable criminal activity in Britain, this
gave to organised criminals a clear incentive to
launder their ill-gotten gains. It must be remem-
bered that the laundering of money is an expensive
and potentially high risk activity. Therefore, crimi-
nals would not normally bother to go to the
expense and trouble of laundering the proceeds of
their illicit activities unless there was a pressing
reason to do so. The prospect of confiscation on
conviction is a real risk and, thus, a compelling
justification for attempting to obscure the source
of such funds. Of course, the 1988 Act did not
contain provisions outlawing money laundering,
which was unfortunate given the incentive that it
gave to the practice.
MONEY-LAUNDERING LOCATIONS
Although considerable international pressure has
been brought to bear, now over many years, on
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