Money Laundering
Money laundering is the illegal act of concealing the source or destination of money involved in a financial transaction by individuals, groups, officials as well as companies. Through money laundering, the criminal creates the impression that the money they are spending is really theirs to spend, when in actual fact it is not.
In most jurisdictions, a person may be judged by a court of law to be guilty of money laundering if there is reasonable cause for suspicion. What this means is that if the court finds that the individual was aware or ought to have been aware that the money was, or was likely to have been, the proceeds of criminal conduct, this is a sign of guilt. Moreover, it is an offense in most jurisdictions to be involved in a transaction whereby the money will be used in the preparation or execution of a crime.
Spotlight on Money Laundering
About Money Laundering
Money laundering is a white collar crime whose operations are a complex combination of several financial transactions that are not transparent. The illegality of money laundering means that participants are liable to pay large penalties, fines or may even face imprisonment if caught. However, for a financial transaction to be regarded as money laundering, its subject should be the proceeds of crime or of criminal conduct. In many jurisdictions, a person may be judged guilty of money laundering by simply laundering the proceeds of another person's criminal activities.
In Canada, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, also known as the Money Laundering Act or PCMLTFA, is an enacted piece of legislation which deals with money laundering. This Act provides regulations to financial services providers such as banks on how to deal with the crime of money laundering.
One of the objectives of the Act includes the implementation of specific measures for the detection and the deterrence of money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities in order to facilitate the investigation or prosecution of offenders of both money laundering and terrorism. This will also require the reporting of suspicious financial transactions as well as the movement of both currency and monetary instruments across borders. For this purpose, an agency responsible for dealing with such information was created under the Act. Another key objective of the Money Laundering Act is the response to the threat that organized crime poses to society by providing information to law enforcement officials which will assist in the investigation and prosecution of both money laundering and terrorist financing offenses.