A Comparative Study On The Criminalization Of Money Laundering In China And The United States

In 2007,FATF,the financial action task force,conducted a field assessment of China's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing work,and pointed out that the criminalization of money laundering in China did not fully meet international standards.These problems mainly focus on the scope of the money laundering predicate offences?the types of money laundering and the subject of money laundering.The above problems concern not only the credibility of China's international obligation to combat money laundering,but also the legislative evaluation of China's money laundering.How to steadily promote the criminalization of money laundering in China and respond to the international community's questions on the criminalization of money laundering in China has become an urgent problem to be solved.In terms of the criminalization of money laundering,the United States,as one of the founding countries of FATF,has a relatively mature way of legislative expression of domestic law and a high degree of compliance with international standards.Therefore,taking the legislation of money laundering crime of the United States as the comparative object can help us to clarify the problems existing in the transformation of international standard domestic law on the criminalization of money laundering,and point out the direction for the improvement of the legislation of money laundering crime in China.The framework of this paper consists of three parts:the first part is a comparison of the evolution of criminal legislation of money laundering in China and the United States.After half a century of development,the crime of money laundering has been relatively formed.The United States is the first country to face the threat of serious crimes such as drug crimes,and the first country to discover the global trend of money laundering.Therefore,the United States strongly promotes the international standard of the criminalization of money laundering by virtue of its first-mover legislative model.However,China's legislation on money laundering crime is in the stage of constant adjustment and self-adaptation against international standards.Therefore,we choose the participatory legislative model to adapt to the standards of the criminalization of money laundering.The second part compares the criminal legislation of money laundering in China and America.Based on the scope of predicate offences?the type of money laundering crime,and the comparison of money laundering crime subject,for it is concluded that the two countries in the specific differences:money laundering crime on the scope of predicate offences,as a result of the uniquely American concept of "felony",enables the United States to list to the greatest possible way of predicate offences of money laundering,expanding the scope of predicate offences money laundering crime.Although the scope of predicate offences of money laundering in China has been added to a certain extent,the scope is still limited to the seven categories of serious crimes stipulated in article 191 of the criminal law.In terms of behavior types,the United States sets the crime of money laundering as a category crime through the typology of basic type and extended type of money laundering,and makes a broad interpretation of "financial transaction",so as to expand the scope of money laundering.However,in China,the crime of money laundering is set as a separate charge in the way of specifying the type of limited behavior,and the connotation of money laundering is defined by the words "providing" and "assisting".In terms of subject scope,since the money laundering behavior contains the self-laundering behavior of the "original offender",the subject of the money laundering crime in the United States contains the "original offender".However,in the process of international treaty transplantation,China classifies the money laundering behavior into the same category as the concealment,concealment and sale of stolen goods,which makes the crime of money laundering bring the attribute of helping behavior when the crime of money laundering is separately legislated,so that the money laundering behavior of "this crime" is excluded.The third part,by discussing the appropriateness of money laundering in China,points out that the development direction of money laundering criminalization in China is as follows:the predicate offences of money laundering should include more serious crimes within the framework of international conventions;The types of money laundering should also continue to be enumerated and generalized,including all seven types of money laundering contained in international conventions.The criminal subject of money laundering crime should include the criminal who has committed the predicate offences.