NCJ Number
134770
Journal
Money Laundering Law Report Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 1,4-6
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article examines the content of various international money laundering treaties and their likely impact on financial institutions.
Abstract
Mutual legal assistance treaties are designed to facilitate the taking of testimony, service of documents, the immobilization of criminally obtained assets, and similar purposes. Exchange of Tax Information treaties provide exchanges of tax information upon request, and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances authorizes confiscation of the proceeds derived from treaty offenses or the equivalent in other property. The European Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure, and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime requires banks and other credit and financial institutions to obtain identification from customers with whom they do not have an ongoing relationship when an account is opened or as to all customers when cash transactions exceed 15,000 ECU's. Overall, these multi-national efforts have begun to close down the "regulatory havens" and provide investigating governments with tools to obtain financial information on the international flow of money to countries that previously refused to disclose that information. The lack of precision in and conflicting definitions of "money laundering" and "suspicious" customer transactions are severe flaws in these efforts.