Part III The Professions and Financial Crime, 11 The Professions and Financial Crime

Abstract

This chapter looks at corrupt professionals who facilitate crimes involving laundered money. Against a background where global law enforcement is targeting money laundering in order to seek to reduce organised crime, corruption, drug dealing, and terrorist finance, it is obvious that professionals, acting either as unwitting enablers, or as criminal conspirators, are under scrutiny as never before. They must therefore be aware of the extent to which they might be targeted by criminals to assist them in money laundering schemes. The chapter looks at several reasons that professionals might be targeted in this way. Some professionals are open to persuasion, and may knowingly lend themselves to such money laundering schemes or schemes of terrorist finance. In doing so, these professionals will be committing breaches both of the criminal law and of their own professional guidelines. The vast majority of professionals, however, will not knowingly participate in such schemes. The chapter examines the various issues that need to be considered here.