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Abstract

This paper presents the international origin of the regulations on the prevention and suppression of money laundering and financing of terrorism with the aim of determining the reasons that have led to these two conducts being treated similarly even though they have substantially different traits. Although they are both offences that are associated with other crimes, money laundering is an activity that takes place after the crime that generated the revenue to be laundered, while the financing of terrorism is an activity that takes place prior to the terrorist attack it is intended to aid. The different origin of the money, coming from criminal activities in one case and tendentially lawful activities in the other, forms a considerable difference that poses significant problems, including whether it is commensurate to subject the money or assets obtained legally to the procedures aimed at combating the laundering of assets that are the proceeds of crime, which may then greatly encroach on the civil rights of the individual, simply because of the illicit use that a third party may make of the assets or money. Lastly, the question is raised about whether the methods used to date have been effective in achieving the required objectives, especially because there is no evidence that they decrease criminality, they do not appear to have any impact on the prevention of corruption in legal markets, and there is no evidence that criminal and terrorist organisations have been affected by the deprivation of their profits and the obstacles that have been put in the way of their legal financial sources. In particular, it is practically impossible to tell if they have prevented acts of terrorism.