Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism
What is money laundering and Financing of Terrrorism
MONEY LAUNDERING
Money laundering is
the transformation via criminal acts that aim to disguise the origin or of the
actual owner’s funds, of the gains from illicit activities into reusable
capital as per the law, and giving it a legal appearance.
Money laundering
encompasses three distinct and sequential stages:
Placement: assets and revenue are placed on financial and non-financial circuits;
Circulation: assets and revenue are subject to manifold and recurrent transactions,
intent on distancing same from the criminal source, thereby cleansing
(laundering) the traces of its origin and ownership;
Inclusion: the assets and revenue that after recycling are reintroduced into the
legitimate economic circuits (i.e. via acquisition of goods and services).
Money laundering is a
crime as per Article 368-A of the Penal Code.
TERRORISM FINANCING
In 2003, terrorism financing
was proscribed (Article 5-A of Law No. 52/2003of 22 August, with the wording
introduced via Article 62 of Law No. 25/2008 of 25 June). Freezing and seizure
of assets belonging to perpetrators of terrorism acts and those the support and
finance terrorist groups and organizations in now envisaged and the duty to
inform on any suspicious transactions that may be related to terrorism. Duties that prevent money laundering have
been reinforced, particularly the duty to identify concerning fund transfer
transactions.
Preventing and combating terrorism financing is
a priority of the EU and FATF’s agenda.
