NCJ Number
164916
Journal
United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Newsletter Issue: 24/25 Dated: (January 1996) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1996
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The scale of global money laundering is immense, and the investment of illicit profits in legal undertakings is estimated at $500 billion a year, a sum equal to the combined gross national products of two-thirds of United Nations member countries.
Abstract
Corrosive effects of money laundering on democratic and political institutions cannot be overstated, even if the extent to which money laundering undermines economies is difficult to estimate based on currently available data. An international conference on money laundering and the use of crime proceeds was held in June 1994 in Courmayeur, Italy, to focus attention on the global nature of the money laundering problem and to encourage more effective international cooperation. The conference determined that priority measures against money laundering should be instituted to criminalize the laundering of criminal proceeds regardless of their origin, limit bank secrecy, identify and report suspicious transactions, and improve the regulation of financial operations and asset forfeiture where appropriate. Conference presentations focused on crime control policies, regulatory strategies and internal corporate controls related to money laundering, money laundering in Brazil and Latin America, and international money laundering trends. An annex includes statements made at the Courmayeur conference. 1 figure