The Impact of Money Laundering on Organised Crime and Terrorism (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Sociology - Law, Delinquency, Abnormal Behavior, grade: 1,0, Coventry University, language: English, abstract: The aim of this work is to provide sufficient information on the most significant key facts of money laundering and the negative impact of terrorism and organised crime on economy, companies, and society. To provide essential basics, the project will begin with the origin and definitions of the terms "money laundering" (ML) and "terrorist financing" (TF), and the differences between the two terms.

Additionally, the most relevant legislations and law enforcement units addressing the issue will be demonstrated. Because of the complexity of local rules, regulations, and legislations, it will be focussed on global and European standards. The money laundering circle including its different phases will be stated as well as alternative modernised models as potential future ML or TF mechanisms such as the use of cryptocurrencies. These are covered in the second chapter.

The third chapter will demonstrate the initiators and facilitators in the money laundering mechanism. The part of the initiators will be represented in this context by major transnational organised crime syndicates and terrorist groups to illustrate how initiators may look like, what objectives they have, how they operate, why money laundering is so essential to their future actions as well as how dangerous their existence is to our society.

On the other hand, facilitators will involve different parties such as the role of banks, specific organisations, states, or offshore locations. It will additionally highlight how these parties benefit from money laundering and why it is such an attractive model to provide initiators with assistance services.

By using real case scenarios and data of the most relevant reports, it will be emphasised in the fourth chapter what negative impact money laundering can have on the economy, society, and companies.

The fifth chapter involves a comprehensive guidance on the prevention of ML including TF for corporate entities with respect to chapter 2.2, which introduced Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) legislations and several other recommendations by law enforcement units, policy makers, and AML/CFT professionals. It will cover significant mechanisms such as risk assessments, Compliance tools, Corporate Governance, Customer Due Diligence, Know Your Customer Principles, and several other preventive measures. The research project finishes with a conclusion.