Penningtvättsbrott - Straffbudet när svarta pengar blandas samman med den reguljära ekonomin
(2017) JURM02 20171Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Brottslighet och särskilt organiserad brottslighet, utgör ett problem för samhället i Sverige men också i andra länder. I statsmaktens arbete mot kriminalitet är hindrande av möjligheterna till penningtvätt, ett viktigt inslag. Penningtvättsåtgärder kan nämligen allmänt beskrivas syfta till att dölja eller omsätta vinning av brottslig verksamhet. Studier har visat att omfattande summor pengar från brott och brottslig verksamhet årligen ”tvättas” och blandas samman med den reguljära ekonomin. Stora krav ställs därför på lagstiftaren att upprätthålla hög standard i motåtgärderna och att dessa är effektiva. Kraven ställs inte bara av de svenska medborgarna utan även från internationellt håll genom olika åtaganden Sverige gjort. Uppsatsens... (More)
- Brottslighet och särskilt organiserad brottslighet, utgör ett problem för samhället i Sverige men också i andra länder. I statsmaktens arbete mot kriminalitet är hindrande av möjligheterna till penningtvätt, ett viktigt inslag. Penningtvättsåtgärder kan nämligen allmänt beskrivas syfta till att dölja eller omsätta vinning av brottslig verksamhet. Studier har visat att omfattande summor pengar från brott och brottslig verksamhet årligen ”tvättas” och blandas samman med den reguljära ekonomin. Stora krav ställs därför på lagstiftaren att upprätthålla hög standard i motåtgärderna och att dessa är effektiva. Kraven ställs inte bara av de svenska medborgarna utan även från internationellt håll genom olika åtaganden Sverige gjort. Uppsatsens målsättning är, med utgångspunkt i det ovan redogjorda för, att utreda den svenska lagstiftningen mot penningtvätt. I huvudsak utgår uppsatsen från den straffrättsliga lagstiftningen om penningtvätt, vilket ändrades år 2014 med en ny effektiv lag: penningtvättsbrottslagen (2014:307). Försök att göra lagstiftning mer effektiv kan innebära avsteg på rättssäkerheten, vilket uppsatsen utreder närmare på penningtvättsbrottets område.
Vid sidan av den straffrättsliga lagstiftningen verkar en administrativ lagstiftning med målsättningen att förhindra penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism i den finansiella sektorn: penningtvättslagen (2009:62). De två typerna av lagstiftning kompletterar varandra genom att ha olika angreppssätt mot penningtvätt; den administrativa lagstiftningen har ett proaktivt förhållningssätt medans den straffrättsliga regleringen är reaktiv.
Med all administrativ lagstiftning tillkommer processekonomiska fördelar i jämförelse med det straffrättsliga. Härav finns det anledning att tro att en övergång till administrativ lagstiftning kan ske i framtiden för bagatellbrottslighet. Ett problem med en sådan övergång är den minskade rättssäkerhet som administrativ lagstiftning också kan anses innebära.
Sedan slutet av 90-talet har den straffrättsliga regleringen mot penningtvätt utgjorts av penninghäleribestämmelsen i 9 kap. 6a § BrB. Bestämmelsen tillämpades sällan eftersom den var komplicerad och svår att förstå för poliser, åklagare och domstol. På grund av tillämpningsproblemen kritiserades lagstiftningen hårt i Sverige men även från internationellt håll, eftersom självtvätt ej var kriminaliserat. Genom propositionen En effektiv kriminalisering av penningtvätt tillkom penningtvättsbrottslagen. Penningtvättsbrottet fick därmed en egen lag genom utbrytande från BrB. Penningtvättsbrottet innebar flera förändringar med bland en ny typ av straffansvar: självtvätt. Vidare, blev innehållet till bestämmelserna mer övergripbara och användbara för bland annat myndigheter som kritiserat den tidigare bestämmelsen.
Genom penningtvättsbrottslagens tillkomst påverkades den straffrättsliga regleringen om penningtvätt till att bli mer effektiv och tillämpas nu i alla dess delar. Att öka effektiviteten av reglering har dock inneburit ett lägre krav på rättssäkerhet. Flertalet rekvisit i bestämmelserna är vagt formulerade utan tydliga förklaringar. För tillfället råder en brist av prejudikat på området vilket troligtvis kommer förändras i sinom tid och öka förutsebarheten av bestämmelsernas tillämpning. (Less) - Abstract
- Crime and in particular organized crime, is a problem for the society in Sweden but also in other countries. Obstruction of opportunities for money laundering is an important element to the authorities in their struggle against crime. Money laundering can generally be described as seeking to conceal or convert the proceeds of criminal activity. Studies have shown that substantial amounts of money from criminal activities are being laundered annually and mixed with the regular economy. Stringent requirements are therefore imposed on the Swedish legal system to efficiently combat and prevent money laundering. The demands are not just made from the citizens, but also from international organisations to which Sweden has various commitments... (More)
- Crime and in particular organized crime, is a problem for the society in Sweden but also in other countries. Obstruction of opportunities for money laundering is an important element to the authorities in their struggle against crime. Money laundering can generally be described as seeking to conceal or convert the proceeds of criminal activity. Studies have shown that substantial amounts of money from criminal activities are being laundered annually and mixed with the regular economy. Stringent requirements are therefore imposed on the Swedish legal system to efficiently combat and prevent money laundering. The demands are not just made from the citizens, but also from international organisations to which Sweden has various commitments with. The objective of the research is, based on the above mentioned, to investigate the Swedish legislation on money laundering. In essence, the research has been based on the criminal law of money laundering, which was amended in 2014 with a new more efficient criminal act: The Money Laundering Offences Act (2014:307). Efforts to make legislation more efficient, may result in reduced legal certainty, which the research will investigate further.
In addition to the criminal law, there is an administrative law with the aim to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in the financial sector: The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (2009:62). The two types of regulations complement each other by having different approaches to the question of money laundering; the administrative law has a proactive approach while the criminal law is reactive instead. As with all administrative legislation, it is more process-friendly than criminal law. Hence, there is reason to believe that a transition to administrative law can happen in the future for trivial crimes. One problem with such a transition is the reduced legal certainty that administrative law implies.
Since the late 90s, the criminal provision on money laundering consisted mainly of chapter 9 6a§ of the Penal Code. The criminal provision was rarely applied since it was complicated and hard to understand for policemen, prosecutors and judges. Hence, the provision was severely criticized in Sweden, but also from an international point of view since the criminal provision did not criminalize self-laundry. The bill "An effective criminalization of money laundering", resulted in the Money Laundering Offences Act. The Penal Code was solely left and the criminal provisions on money laundering was collected in one criminal act. The new criminal provisions implied a new criminal liability: self-laundering is now an offence. Furthermore, the criminal provisions are now more comprehensible and useful to the authorities that criticized the previous provision. The changes that resulted from The Money Laundering Offences Act, effected the criminal provisions to be more efficient and the Act is now applied in full.
However, by changing the Act to be more efficient, a reduce in demands of legal certainty can be identified. Several prerequisites in the provisions are vaguely formulated without any clear explanation of its meaning. At the moment, there is a lack of precedent which is likely to change in due course and increase the predictability of the application. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8908655
- author
- Madar, Philip LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Money laundry offence - the criminal activity when laundered money is mixed with legal money
- course
- JURM02 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, penningtvätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8908655
- date added to LUP
- 2017-06-08 11:23:36
- date last changed
- 2017-06-08 11:23:36
@misc{8908655,
abstract = {{Crime and in particular organized crime, is a problem for the society in Sweden but also in other countries. Obstruction of opportunities for money laundering is an important element to the authorities in their struggle against crime. Money laundering can generally be described as seeking to conceal or convert the proceeds of criminal activity. Studies have shown that substantial amounts of money from criminal activities are being laundered annually and mixed with the regular economy. Stringent requirements are therefore imposed on the Swedish legal system to efficiently combat and prevent money laundering. The demands are not just made from the citizens, but also from international organisations to which Sweden has various commitments with. The objective of the research is, based on the above mentioned, to investigate the Swedish legislation on money laundering. In essence, the research has been based on the criminal law of money laundering, which was amended in 2014 with a new more efficient criminal act: The Money Laundering Offences Act (2014:307). Efforts to make legislation more efficient, may result in reduced legal certainty, which the research will investigate further.
In addition to the criminal law, there is an administrative law with the aim to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in the financial sector: The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (2009:62). The two types of regulations complement each other by having different approaches to the question of money laundering; the administrative law has a proactive approach while the criminal law is reactive instead. As with all administrative legislation, it is more process-friendly than criminal law. Hence, there is reason to believe that a transition to administrative law can happen in the future for trivial crimes. One problem with such a transition is the reduced legal certainty that administrative law implies.
Since the late 90s, the criminal provision on money laundering consisted mainly of chapter 9 6a§ of the Penal Code. The criminal provision was rarely applied since it was complicated and hard to understand for policemen, prosecutors and judges. Hence, the provision was severely criticized in Sweden, but also from an international point of view since the criminal provision did not criminalize self-laundry. The bill "An effective criminalization of money laundering", resulted in the Money Laundering Offences Act. The Penal Code was solely left and the criminal provisions on money laundering was collected in one criminal act. The new criminal provisions implied a new criminal liability: self-laundering is now an offence. Furthermore, the criminal provisions are now more comprehensible and useful to the authorities that criticized the previous provision. The changes that resulted from The Money Laundering Offences Act, effected the criminal provisions to be more efficient and the Act is now applied in full.
However, by changing the Act to be more efficient, a reduce in demands of legal certainty can be identified. Several prerequisites in the provisions are vaguely formulated without any clear explanation of its meaning. At the moment, there is a lack of precedent which is likely to change in due course and increase the predictability of the application.}},
author = {{Madar, Philip}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Penningtvättsbrott - Straffbudet när svarta pengar blandas samman med den reguljära ekonomin}},
year = {{2017}},
}