MONEY LAUNDERING MENACE

NOT A SINGLE country in this world is safe from the menace of money laundering. Money laundering is ubiquitous, and according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, each year about :

$800 billion to $2 trillion........is cleansed through different mediums.

Countries with bank-secrecy laws are directly connected to countries with a bank reporting law, making it extremely convenient to deposit money earned through unfair means in one country, and having it transferred to some other other country for safe-keeping and use.

Money Laundering is the act of making money earned from a certain source seem like it is being earned from a different source.

Criminals use a variety of ways to disguise the source of their illegitimate earnings,and make them seem like they have been earned through legitimate means.

In an attempt to obscure the origin of the illegitimate earnings, the money is transferred to several countries.

In developing countries the most common types of criminals are corrupt politicians, embezzlers, public officials and human and drug traffickers.

There are three basic steps to launder the  money; placement, layering and integration. Placement is when the laundered money is put into a legitimate financial institution.

After the initial steps of placement, comes layering.

Layering involves sending the money through the different financial transactions to change its form.

The final stage is integration. In this stage, the money reenters the economy  disguised as a legitimate  transaction.

There are countless organizations trying to get a hold on money laundering schemes of which one has 37 member states and organizations known as the Financial Task Force on Money Laundering.

The United Nations World Bank and Internal Monetary Fund also have special units to counter  money laundering schemes.

There are tremendous money laundering techniques that the authorities know about and countless others, which are still hidden.

The honor and serving of the latest *Operational Research on Money Laundering* continues. The World Students Society thanks author and researcher, Lawyer Sami Shah.