Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing offences

Introduction to money laundering and counter-terrorist financing

Anti-money laundering

Money laundering is the process by which the proceeds of crime are converted into assets which appear to have a legitimate origin (‘cleaned’ or ‘laundered’) in order that they can be retained permanently or recycled into further criminal enterprises. The statutory definitions of money laundering are broad. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002), money laundering is defined as concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property out of the jurisdiction, entering into or becoming concerned in an arrangement that facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property or acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.

There are two distinct aspects to the UK’s anti-money laundering regime (AML) in England and Wales: the criminalisation of money laundering activities via substantive offences under POCA 2002 (and associated disclosure and tipping off regimes) and the regulation of activity in which there is a money laundering risk, itself enforced via money laundering offences. See Practice Note: Money laundering—key information for businesses, which discusses what money laundering is and the law governing this

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