6 THE GLOBAL LAUNDROMAT
Anti-money-laundering legislation of all kinds is spreading
worldwide, and its purpose is broader than its publicly stated
reasons for being—to combat crime and terrorism. Moneylaundering
legislation, coupled with other dangerous legislation such
as laws to allow the legal confiscation of private property and assets
even under questionable circumstances and often without due process,
has the potential to be a powerful and unbridled weapon to use
against the average person.
As even grade-school kids know, the anti-racketeering laws were
originally passed to corral underworld gangsters who were the villains
in organized crime. Today, these laws are freely used on anyone, and
are just an addition to the arsenal for those looking to put you away.
When this legislation was originally drafted, the language was purposefully
ambiguous, to make it easier to manipulate through future
interpretation and application. The unsuspecting public does not
necessarily consider this aspect of legislation at the time it is proposed
and ultimately passed.
A closer look at the U.S. Patriot Act raises a similar specter. Six
weeks after 9/11, we were led to believe that bureaucrats agreed to,
and drafted, a 342-page piece of legislation supposedly designed to
stop terrorists and rogue states and to keep us safe from our airplanes
being wrangled and our buildings falling down around us. Was this
possibly written in advance by those hoping to limit our liberties and
other agendas, then dusted off, and put into place when the right moment
came along? Maybe not, but why then did so few bureaucrats
read it before it was passed? Many were later surprised to learn the
scope of this document.
Approximately one-third of this legislation is targeted at offshore
banking and finance under the label “anti-money-laundering.” And,
what have we learned is the real reason for anti-money-laundering
legislation? In case you would like to read the United States Patriot
Act for yourself, you will find it on the FINCEN web site at www
.fincen.org. This Act, which was again passed in 2006, has been
called the anti-Constitution by some observers since. In a subtle subtext,
it brilliantly and deviously sneaks away with the rights granted
to us and the liberties guaranteed to us in the documents of the
founding fathers of this country.
Just what is the definition of money laundering? Of course, there
are many. Here is the definition used in Article One of the European
Communities Directive of 1990:
The conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived
from serious crime, for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origins
of the property or of assisting any person who is involved in committing such an
offense or offenses to evade the legal consequences of his action, and the concealment
or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement,
rights with respect to, or ownership of property, knowing that such property is derived
from serious crime.
This leads the thinking reader to wonder what the definition of
“serious crime” might be. Inevitably, it is open for further analysis
and interpretation, making it convenient for those in power to define
according to need.
There are numerous anti-money-laundering organizations around
the world. Readers should be aware of the more active and outwardly
spoken ones, and what they are doing. A few of the more prominent
ones are covered here, and they are mentioned occasionally in this
book and frequently in the media.
In fact, there are many references to money laundering these
days. A quick search on the Internet will produce lots of reading material,
although, of course, I wouldn’t trust all of it.