Uncertainties collide: lawyers and money laundering, terrorist finance regulation
| Date | 17 July 2009 |
| Published date | 17 July 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790910971766 |
| Pages | 210-219 |
| Author | M. Michelle Gallant |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Uncertainties collide: lawyers
and money laundering, terrorist
finance regulation
M. Michelle Gallant
Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the tentative, highly contingent nature of the
contemporary press to impose stringent anti-criminal finance regulatory obligations onto Canadian
legal counsel.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach used in this work is to bring together problems
associated with different areas of the anti-criminal finance project in order to demonstrate how these
problemscompound in the contextof the fusion of Canadian lawyersand anti-criminalfinance regulation.
It draws chiefly on Canadianlaw and Canadian and international scholarship.
Findings – This paper shows that the tasking of Canadian legal counsel with additional regulatory
burdens continues the pattern of developing legal strategies without paying sufficient attention to the
actual results that the strategies produce.
Practical implications – This paper suggests that any continued construction of an anti-criminal
finance apparatus should be accompanied by enhanced study of its actual ability to generate results.
Originality/value – Most investigations of anti -criminal finance developme nts assume the
effectiveness of a strategy focused on detecting and intercepting resources linked to crime. Rather
than assume its effectiveness, this paper demonstrates that an extraordinarily level of uncertainty
animates that development.
Keywords Money laundering,Lawyers, Canada, Terrorism, Governance
Paper type General review
The tasking of Canadian lawyers with anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist finance
obligations is a project fraught with uncertainty. It is not clear that the strategy of
pursuing criminal finance, the underlying reason for the conscripting of lawyers into
the war on criminal finance, works to deter crime. Whether there is space within
Canadian legal norms to accommodate any conscription of lawyers is uncertain. And
whether a new emergent model, regulation through professional governance, is an
effective vehicle through which to deal with the conjunction of lawyers and criminal
finance is uncertain. In charting the course of Canadian developments, this paper
demonstrates the problematic nature of the convergence of lawyers and anti-criminal
finance regulation.
Charting the trajectory: lawyers and anti-criminal finance norms
The vast edifices of anti-money laundering, any terrorist finance norms do not
presently catch Canadian lawyers. Similar to most jurisdictions, and following
international models, Canadian law criminalizes money laundering and criminalizes
acts that touch upon, or are connected to, terrorist property[1]. An accompan ying
expansive host of regulatory devices impose various anti-criminal finance obligations
on individuals and institutions that act as financial intermediaries[2]. These consist of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-0790.htm
JFC
16,3
210
Journal of Financial Crime
Vol. 16 No. 3, 2009
pp. 210-219
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/13590790910971766
To continue reading
Request your trial