Policing and Prosecution of Money Laundering

The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the distinctive features of policing and prosecuting the money laundering offence. It then outlines the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s international standards on money laundering and its method of mutual evaluation, particularly after the extension of the methodology to effectiveness assessments in 2013. The focus in this chapter is on the standards of policing and prosecution of money laundering. In the FATF methodology, three outcome standards are directly relevant: the use of financial intelligence, the enforcement of the money laundering offence, and the confiscation of criminal property. After providing an overview of the results in the 48 jurisdictions reviewed for effectiveness thus far, the chapter looks more closely at the evaluations of three jurisdictions obtaining high effectiveness ratings and three jurisdictions obtaining low ratings. From this analysis, a list of relevant considerations is identified. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the future of FATF mutual evaluations