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Money laundering: some facts

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Abstract

This paper tackles the quite difficult topic of money laundering. After defining money laundering, and after explaining the three stages (steps), placement, layering and integration, the paper tries a quantification and estimation of the volume and development of money laundering activities. Besides it shows national and international measurements to fight money laundering and various effects on macroeconomics. The overall turnover in organized crime for example had a value of 800 billion USD in 2001 and increased to 1.700 billion USD in 2007. These figures are very preliminary with a quite large error, but give a clear indication how important money laundering and the turnover of organized crime is nowadays.

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Notes

  1. Compare Ertl 2002, p. 8 and Couvrat and Pless 1993, p. 171f.

  2. Compare IMF 1998. However, the results are to some extent doubted, since they are irreproducible and not scientifically proven. See Riegler 2004, p. 90ff.

  3. Own calculations.

  4. These figures only cover cannabis products, heroin, cocaine, XTC-pills and LSD-trips. Compare BMI 2008a, Jahresbericht 2007 d. Bundesministeriums für Inneres zur Suchtmittelkriminalität, p. 4.

  5. Compare Vanempten and Verduyn 1994, p. 24f. Hereunto the FIU Germany: “Cash transactions continue to play a significant role in a large number of cases. Evidently, offenders are aware and continue to deliberately exploit the advantage of “interruption of the paper trail” afforded by cash transactions. Particularly significant in this context are the very large amounts involved in some of these cash transactions.” BKA 2005, Annual Report 2004 Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), p. 42.

  6. Compare BMI 2005.

  7. Compare BKA 2007a, Kurzfassung des Lagebildes Organisierte Kriminalität 2006 Bundesrepublik Deutschland, p. 5.

  8. Compare Siska 1999 and own calculations.

  9. Schneider 2000, p. 3.

  10. Compare Vanempten and Verduyn 1994, p. 24f.

  11. Compare Bongard 2001, p. 55 and p. 181.

  12. UNDOC 2008, p. 9.

  13. UNDOC 2005, p. 5 and p. 127.

  14. Compare BMI 2008a, Jahresbericht 2007 d. Bundesministeriums für Inneres zur Suchtmittelkriminalität, p. 4.

  15. Compare Siska 1999, p. 28.

  16. Compare Ertl 2002, p. 8.

  17. See http://archiv.tagesspiegel.de/archiv/18.11.2005/2180342.asp.

  18. English translation of Germany’s penal code. See https://www.imolin.org/amlid/showLaw.do?law=6301&language=ENG&country=GER.

  19. English translation of Austrian’s penal code of 1993. See https://www.imolin.org/amlid/showLaw.do?law=5951&language=ENG&country=AUS.

  20. See https://www.a-i3.org/content/view/317/28/.

  21. See http://archiv.tagesspiegel.de/archiv/18.11.2005/2180342.asp.

  22. Compare IMF 2002.

  23. Riegler 2004, p. 41.

  24. Compare Riegler 2004, p. 65ff.

  25. Compare BMI 2006a, b.

  26. There is no standard of typology so far.

  27. Compare BMI 2005a–d.

  28. Compare BMI 2005a–c.

  29. ARS = Any system used for transferring money from one location to another and generally operating outside the banking channels. The services encompassed by this broad definition of ARS range from those managed by large multinational companies to small local networks. They can be of a legal or illegal nature and make use of a variety of methods and tools to transfer the money (FATF/GAFI 2005, p. 3).

  30. Compare BKA 2005, Annual Report 2004 Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), p. 47.

  31. Compare BKA 2005, Annual Report 2004 Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), p. 22ff.

  32. Compare Altenkirch 2002, p. 63ff.

  33. See Banerjee, Money Laundering in the EU, http://www.ex.ac.uk/~watupman/undergrad/ron/explosion%20of%20money%20laundering.htm.

  34. Compare Couvrat and Pless 1993.

  35. Compare IMF 1996.

  36. See Handelsblatt 2005, Anti-Geldwäsche-Kampf behindert Geldverkehr, http://www.handelsblatt.com/pshb/fn/relhbi/sfn/buildhbi/cn/GoArt!204867,204886,981478/index.html.

  37. See Stern 2004, Das Geschäft mit dem schmutzigen Geld, http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/geldanlage/531574.html?nv=ct_mt.

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  1. Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, Linz-Auhof, A-4040, Austria

    Friedrich Schneider & Ursula Windischbauer

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  1. Friedrich Schneider
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  2. Ursula Windischbauer
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Correspondence to Friedrich Schneider.

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Schneider, F., Windischbauer, U. Money laundering: some facts. Eur J Law Econ 26, 387–404 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-008-9070-x

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