INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF CRIMINAL LAW COUNTERING THE LEGALISATION (LAUNDERING) OF PROPERTY OBTAINED BY CRIMINAL MEANS: RETROSPECTIVE AND CURRENT TRENDS

Abstract

The problem of countering the money laundering has always been in the centre of attention of law enforcement, financial authorities, and international organisations. It has become particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reoriented financial activities to the use of new modern technologies, changed economic processes, opening up new ways to obtain criminal proceeds. The purpose of the study is to investigate the current state of international regulation in the field of criminal law counteraction to the legalisation (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means. Methodological tools include the dialectical method of scientific cognition, formal and legal, system and structural, and comparative and legal methods. The implementation of a systematic analysis of international legislation in the field of countering money laundering provided the following conclusions: 1) the conceptual basis for effective counteraction to the laundering of “dirty” property is international cooperation, within which the establishment of a national system of legal norms took place; 2) international anti-money laundering legislation is sufficiently unified, the provisions of legal acts are mutually agreed and do not contain fundamental contradictions, in particular, regarding the description of objective and subjective signs of legalisation; 3) international standards are mainly advisory in nature, but countries adhere to the requirements for their implementation; 4) among the measures to prevent legalisation, the following are of the greatest interest: creation of a register of beneficial owners; development of standards designed to ensure integrity in the work of public and private organisations; introduction of a mechanism for monitoring the use of virtual currencies, etc. The results and suggestions presented in the study can be used in the further development of criminal law mechanisms to counteract the legalisation (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means