Magister Legum - LLM / This paper discusses the progress of international anti-money laundering (AML) law with regard to making tax evasion a predicate offence for the crime of money laundering (ML). This paper will focus particularly on the recent amendments that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) made to its 40 + 9 Recommendations. The FATF Recommendations are recognised as the global AML standards. The amendments to these have resulted in tax crimes being made designated offences for ML. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the rationale behind this change and to assess the implications of bringing fiscal crimes under the AML regime.

Magister Legum - LLM / Annually, money laundering costs global financial markets $2.5 trillion. Money laundering is especially problematic in that it results in a plethora of socioeconomic problems including poor economic performance and an upsurge in crime. In fact, predicate crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking, tax evasion, smuggling, fraud, and terrorism are so embedded within money laundering so much so that combatting either is a complicated task. Although it is a daunting endeavour, best practice teaches that multilateral and international cooperation are most effective at fighting money laundering. For that reason, establishing locally sensitive and yet internationally focussed anti-money laundering regimes is a priority for numerous countries.

Money laundering is the act of converting money gained from illegal activity, such as drug smuggling, into money that appears legitimate and in which the source cannot be traced to the illegal activi ty. Criminal proceeds also include that which is derived from tax evasion. Estimates of the scale of money laundering globally range between 2 and 5% of the worlds Gross Domestic Product. Another study refers to money laundering as the third largest industry globally. Money laundering has devastating consequences for countries individually and for the global economy as a whole. Potential macroeconomic consequences include inexplicable changes in money demand, greater prudential risks to banks' soundness, contamination effects on legal financial transactions and greater volatility of international capital flows and exchange rates due to unanticipated cross-border asset transfers. A number of initiatives have been established for dealing with the problem at international level. Amongst the most significant is the formation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a body that was established by the G-7 nations in 1989 to develop a coordinated international 096572 response to money laundering. South Africa was recently accepted as a full member of the FAFT, having satisfied the FATF recommendations with the implementation of a Financial Intelligence Centre Act. The provisions of the Act came into effect on 1 June 2003. The Act imposes reporting obligations on accountable institutions like banks, insurance companies, estate agent and casinos. The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) is established by the Act in order to identify the proceeds of unlawful activities and to combat money-laundering activi ties. It aims to do so by making information collected by it available to investigating authorities (South African Police, Scorpions, Asset Forfeiture Unit etc. including SARS). The FIC will in the course of its functions build up a database of information, which it will retain and utilise to support the above-mentioned bodies in the performance of their functions. The FICA creates a special relationship particularly with SARS. The FIC data will assist SARS to combat tax evasion and to collect taxes more effectively. The Act explicitly requires all institutions to report any transactions that may be relevant to the investigation of any evasion or attempted evasion of any tax, levy or duty. Money laundering by its very nature does not lend itself to being accurately measured but based on estimates discussed above, this can amount to a substantial loss to the fiscus. The estimated range of between 2 and 5% of the world's GDP would translate to between R24 and R60 billion being laundered annually in South Africa. If one applies the minimum marginal tax rate of 18%, one arrives at a potential loss of between R4.32 and RI0.8 billion to the fiscus. Whilst the new Financial Intelligence Centre Act cannot totally eradicate the laundering of undeclared or criminal proceeds, the many obligations now placed on accountable institutions in terms of the Act is most likely to be a further deterrent or obstacle to tax evasion. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

With the advent of globalisation the sports industry has shown exponential growth in the last 20 years. The surge of commercialisation of sport, the unprecedented internationalisation of the sports labour market, the enormous sums of money paid for the broadcasting rights of big sporting events, the attraction by multinational blue chip sponsors as well as the direct private investment by the worlds super wealthy have all contributed to the growing economic and social importance of sports. This massive influx of big money into sports does have its drawbacks. The criminal world has always shown adaptability in finding new channels to launder the proceeds of their illegal activities. Ever increasing and stricter measures and standards put in place by inter-governmental bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as well as the increasing compliance of financial institutions the world over with these standards has meant that various legitimate sectors are at risk of being infected with criminal money. In a Report released by the FATF entitled ‘Money Laundering through the Football Sector’ one of the vulnerabilities of football clubs that was identified was the increased strain on their financial needs. Big Clubs require large budgets to be able to compete and afford the best players. Prices for players appear irrational and are very difficult to control. Player salaries comprise a substantial portion of the clubs total budgets. The result of this factor is that a large percentage of clubs are in financial trouble. This financial vulnerability can make clubs more susceptible to offers made from criminals looking for avenues to launder their ill-gotten gains. A salary cap is simply put a limit on the amount of money a club is permitted to spend on salaries. This limit or cap comes in various forms but is usually implemented as a percentage of the club’s annual average revenues. It is a rather controversial measure and certainly has its detractors, but it has shown to increase competitive balance and maintain financial stability in the leagues that they have been introduced. Salary caps are in effect in professional team sports all around the world. It has been used successfully in North America in their National Football and National Basketball leagues respectively, as well as in Australia in the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League and into UK professional rugby by the Rugby Football League and later by the Rugby Football Union. This mini dissertation aims to illustrate the threat posed to professional football by criminal organisations seeking to find new ways to launder the proceeds of their crimes as well as provide an overview of money laundering as a crime. It further aims to provide an overview of salary capping and then tie in the purpose and benefits of the implementation of a salary cap and how it may inadvertently be used to curb money laundering. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences / Department of Sociology

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

The Canadian proceeds of crime provisions, Part XTJ.2 of the Criminal Code, are targeted at enterprises that are motivated by the desire to generate profit and accumulate wealth from criminal activity. The main purpose of Part XII.2 is to provide the police and prosecution with powerful new tools to attach the proceeds of crime, and the courts with the power to forfeit such proceeds. This thesis will examine how, in recognition of the procedural and substantive problems with this legislation and in contrast to American legislation, Parliament included numerous provisions to balance such extensive powers. The balancing mechanisms included a provision that allows reasonable legal fees to be paid out of seized or restrained property that is alleged to be proceeds and another that requires an in camera session to be held without the presence of the Attorney General, to determine the reasonableness of such fees. The Parliamentary record explicitly demonstrates that the balancing provisions were meant to ensure that the pre-trial restraint and potential forfeiture of property would withstand Charter challenges, especially with regard to an accused's rights to counsel, fair trial and full answer and defence. In this thesis I will analyze the complexities of proceeds litigation and demonstrate how this necessitates adequate legal representation to ensure that an accused's Charter rights are protected. This thesis explores in depth how Parliament recognized the need for balancing mechanisms that permit funds to be released for an accused to retain private counsel. However, these mechanisms have been significantly narrowed by subsequent judicial interpretation. A result of this line of authority is that defence work in the proceeds area has become very difficult. If reasonable legal fees are not taken from seized proceeds, provincial legal aid plans will have to provide for appropriate counsel. This may not be a realistic option given the funding of these plans and their stated objection to funding proceeds cases. Therefore, in this thesis I will argue that if private counsel must be retained the right to counsel could be effectively forfeited, unless a portion of the seized or restrained assets are released for reasonable legal fees. This thesis will attempt to provide a coherent basis for future interpretation of the Part XII.2 provisions that affect legal fees. The approach taken will incorporate the competing interests of accused persons and the State without undermining the objectives of the legislation. This thesis will focus on Canadian legislation and jurisprudence, but will also have a comparative component that examines how these issues have been dealt with in Australia, England and the United States.

Pinigų plovimas – tai sudėtingas procesas, kurio esminis tikslas – iš pažiūros teisėtos kilmės nusikalstamu būdu įgytam turtui suteikimas arba turto kilmės nuslėpimas. Bet kokios pinigų plovimo operacijos pagrindinis tikslas yra dvilypis: pirmiausia, yra siekiama paslėpti nusikaltimus, iš kurių yra gaunamos pajamos, t.y. predikatinius nusikaltimus, o kai tai pavyksta padaryti, nusikaltėliai siekia užsitikrinti, jog bus galima naudotis tomis pajamomis savo nuožiūra. Lietuvoje baudžiamoji atsakomybė už nusikalstamu būdu įgytų pinigų ar turto legalizavimą arba dar kitaip vadinamą pinigų plovimą yra numatyta BK 216 straipsnyje. Šiame darbe yra nagrinėjami pinigų plovimo sudėties požymiai, analizuojamos problemos, kylančios nustatant ar vertinant vienus ar kitus pinigų plovimo požymius. Siekiant kuo išsamiau atskleisti ir paaiškinti pinigų plovimo požymius, darbe taip pat yra nagrinėjami tarptautiniai ir Europos Sąjungos teisės aktai, kuriuose valstybės įpareigojamos kriminalizuoti pinigų plovimą, numatyti griežtas pinigų plovimo prevencijos priemones, taip pat kiti tarptautiniai instrumentai, skirti kovai su pinigų plovimu. Galiausiai, autorė siekia nustatyti ir įvertinti, ar Lietuvos Respublikos teisės aktuose įtvirtinti pinigų plovimo sudėties požymiai atitinka tarptautinių teisės aktų, ypač Europos Sąjungos, privalomąsias nuostatas. / Money laundering – is a complicate process, the primary aim of which is provision of visually legitimate origin to the property acquired in criminal manner or suppression of property origin. Primary aim of any money laundering operation is dual: first, it is strived to conceal the crimes, from which the income comes, i.e. predicate crimes, and when it is succeeded to do that, criminals strive to ensure that it would be possible to use this income at their own discretion. Criminal responsibility for legalization of money or property acquired in criminal manner, or otherwise called money laundering, in Lithuania is stipulated by an article BK 216. This research paper analyzes the features of money laundering contents; the problems that arise upon establishment or evaluation of one or the other money laundering features are analyzed. In order to unfold and explain thoroughly the features of money laundering the research paper also examines international and European legal acts, by which the states undertake to criminalize money laundering, stipulate strict prevention measures of money laundering, also other international instruments intended to fight money laundering. Eventually, the author seeks to establish and evaluate whether the features of money laundering contents consolidated in legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania correspond to the compulsory provisions of international legal acts, especially of the European Union.