Legalizēšanas nozieguma objekta De Lege Ferenda

Abstract

The article discusses the changes in the structure of the Laundering of the Proceeds from Crime in the Criminal Law as a legal norm, that has a blanket reference, after the implementation of the FATF recommendations in Latvia, especially paying attention to the object of Laundering of the Proceeds from Crime from the point of view of the Progressive criminal law school as of de lege ferenda, seeking to establish what the person is responsible for in the case of laundering crime. Thus, by taking a brief view at the findings of the Latvian criminal law theory on the object of a criminal offense and the protection of economic, fiscal and monetary interests in the Criminal Law in Latvia, the author finds that one of the constituent elements of a criminal offense – i.e., the object (protected interest) – theoretically de facto does not exist in the Laundering of the Proceeds from Crime offence. Thereby the principle of Nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege as provided in the Section 1 of the Criminal Law is not respected. At the end of the article, the author offers his solution to the established problem – it is to restore the previously stroked reference to the predicate crime in the description of the laundering crime, thus restoring the unbreakable link of money laundering crime with predicate crime, which would reveal to the law enforcer the legal interest protected by the Criminal Law.