EU agrees new rules to make sure money laundering criminals are punished

Istanbul, June 7 (DHA) –  The EU Council (at ambassadors' level) confirmed the agreement reached between the Bulgarian presidency and the Parliament on new rules on using criminal law to counter money laundering, on Thursday. The new directive aims at disrupting and blocking access by criminals to  financial resources, including those used for terrorist activities.

According to a statement made by European Council, the main objectives of the new rules are to:

• establish minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions relating to money laundering;
• remove obstacles to cross-border judicial and police cooperation by setting common provisions to improve the investigation of money laundering related offences;
• bring EU rules in line with international obligations, in particular those arising from the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (Warsaw Convention) and the relevant Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

"To conduct terrorist or other criminal activities, one needs money. Making sure money laundering activities are sanctioned and that EU-wide judicial and police cooperation is as effective as possible will help cut the flow of money going into the pockets of criminals. These new rules are another building block in the EU's overall plan to stem the flow of money available to criminals" said Tsetska Tsacheva, Bulgarian minister of Justice.

The final compromise agreed between institutions establishes that:

• Money laundering activities will be punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 4 years
• Additional sanctions and measures may be imposed by judges together with imprisonment (e.g. temporary or permanent exclusion from access to public funding, fines, etc.).
• Aggravating circumstances will apply to cases linked to criminal organisation or for offences conducted in the exercise of certain professional activities. Member states may also define such aggravating circumstances on the basis of the value of the property or money being laundered or of the nature of the offence (e.g. corruption, sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, etc.)
• Legal entities will also be held liable for certain money laundering activities and can face a range of sanctions (e.g. exclusion from public aid, placement under judicial supervision, judicial winding-up, etc.)

The compromise also includes clearer rules to define which member state has jurisdiction and the cooperation between member states concerned for cross border cases, as well as the need to involve Eurojust.

The text will now undergo linguistic revision before formal adoption by the Council and Parliament. Member states will then have up to 24 months to transpose the new provisions into national law.