On Money Laundry

The term money laundering came from the United States at the earliest. It refers to the cleaning of dirty money, the process of legalizing illegal incomes, and a general term for all kinds of criminal activities of concealing or disguising the proceeds of crime. Money laundering act first appeared in capitalist countries, and money laundering crime also shows its international feature along with the integrating process of the world. Money laundering crime has been recognized to be one of the major crimes that should be cracked down in the international community. According to the estimates of International Monetary Fund, each year, the total amount of the world's illicit money laundering is equivalent to 2% -5% of the world's gross domestic product, with the legalized illegal income amounting about 1,000,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 US dollars in developing countries, about 300,000 to 500,000 million US dollars of black money having been legalized in some of the world's financial centers.Money laundering act flows a large number of black income into normal social capitalist financial markets by putting dirty money or black money into financial institutions and other departments and then turning them out back and forth, which not only directly threatens the safety of financial order and development of economic market, intensifies social contradictions, leads to social unrest, but also hampers normal judicial activities more seriously, provides cover for upstream crimes, which stimulates and encourages them by protection and financial support.In view of the broad perniciousness and deep bane of money laundering acts against socio-economy and social order, China has gradually stepped up the fight against money laundering crimes. Since 1997, Chinese Criminal Law began to stipulate money laundry formally; in 2006, Amendments to the Criminal Code Case (VI) expanded the upstream crimes; and then on January 1, 2007, the Anti-money Laundering Law was fully implemented. All of these provisions show China's determination and confidence to crack down on money laundering activities. China has achieved a certain effect through a series of positive legislation and joining into the international anti-money laundering contracts. However, as China's anti-money laundering dues to a late start, there is still a long way to go compared with the International Covenant and developed countries. There are many inconsistent points in the provisions of China's Criminal Law against money laundry, and particularly the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption puts forward an urgent demand on China's criminal legislation. Blending into the world not only economically, China should also learn from advanced foreign experience in legal system, combining with the domestic reality, and work out the most suitable anti-money laundering laws and supporting measures. Money laundry provisions alone can not carry or realize the functions of Criminal Law, so China needs a series of international co-operating systems against anti-money laundering which must also be in line with China's national conditions. China's anti-money laundering legislation is improving day by day. This thesis carries out a more in-depth research on the constitutive elements of money laundering crimes based on the revised norms on money laundry crimes and theoretical research results.This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is an overview. First of all, it sets out the concept of money laundry and different characteristics of provisions on money laundry from the definition of money laundry in the world's major countries or international organizations. The following is an exposition of the perniciousness of money laundering acts: Conniving upstream crimes and destructing the normal economic order. Finally, conclusion has been made out through the analysis of the types of crimes, that: money laundry crime is a kind of behavioral offence.The second part is the main part of this thesis. Firstly, the constitutive elements of money laundry crimes are divided into both objective elements and subjective elements. On objective elements, object, forms, target of crime and dangerous consequences are discoursed one by one. The object of money laundry is the normal judiciary activities and the management order of market economy. The main form of money laundering acts is the action, but does not rule out the nonfeasance in specific circumstances. In real life and judicial practices, money laundry may form in various stages of placing, fostering and integration: providing capital account and assisting of converting property into cash, securities or financial instruments, helping with transferring findings through transfer or other clearing forms, assisting of remitting findings abroad. Its acting manners have all kinds of ways: money laundering with the use of masquerade, money laundering with the use of currency smuggling, money laundering by purchasing tangible assets and securities, money laundering with the use of smurfs, money laundering through double invoicing, money laundering by acquiring financial institutions, money laundering with the use of foreign exchange, money laundering with the use of credit cards and money laundering with the use of shell companies and so on. The target of money laundering crime should include all forms of property and the dangerous consequences are generally non- corporeal. On subjective elements, subject, forms and convince are discussed. The subjects of money laundry include natural person subjects and unit subjects. In particular, it must be made clear that the subjects of money laundry include not only the general subjects, but also original criminals. Money laundry faults in forms of direct deliberate intention and indirect deliberate intention, China's criminal Law denies fault as a subjective element constituting money laundry. On convince, it highlights the effect of wrong object and wrong target on the conviction and measurement of penalty in fact.The third part is actually the summary of the whole text, and has provided some referential suggestions to the controversial issues between theory and justice practices. There are mainly the following aspects: 1, Money laundry should be put into the chapter Crime of Obstruction of Justice in the entire Criminal Law system; 2, The targets of money laundry acts should be expanded to include both findings and property in other forms; both tangible assets and intangible assets; both movable property and immovable property; 3, The statement that the circumstances is serious should be clarified. For example, the amount of money laundering is huge; the covered upstream crime is serious; the upstream crime can not be punished as a result of the eradication of evidence led by money laundering; the number of money laundering times is more than three, people involved in money laundering are in a large number; a huge amount of out flowing capital can not be recovered; social influence is bad; the order of market economy is seriously disrupted and so on; 4, the scope of upstream crimes should be expanded, consisting of kidnapping, gambling, organizational prostitution and other crimes in order to better balance the criminal guilt; 5, The subjects of money laundry include not only the general subjects, but also original criminals. The actor of upstream crimes engaging in money laundering act is also constituting a money laundry, which should be punished cumulatively in accordance with the implicated offender principle; 6, setting up the new accusation of indulging money laundry to convict financial institutions and their staff of money laundering crimes because of their serious fault in the violation of anti-money laundering obligations.