Money laundering – the offense against economy and a contemporary global phenomenon

• Main Authors: Jelena Matijasevic-Obradovic, Jelena Lukavac
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Business Academy in Novi Sad Faculty of Law for Commerce and Judiciary 2019-05-01
• Series: Pravo
• Subjects: Money Laundering; Crimes against the Economy; the Criminal Code
• Online Access: https://casopis.pravni-fakultet.edu.rs/index.php/ltp/article/view/17
• ISSN: 0352-3713; 2683-5711

Money laundering as a form of economic crime is present in both national and international conditions. Despite a large number of definitions, we can say that money laundering refers to a circulation of illegally gained profits, during a shorter or longer period of time, in order to, in a cycle of transformation, at last gain ostensibly legitimate profits. The subject of analysis in this paper were the results of the judicial authorities in Serbia in criminal proceedings against adult perpetrators of crimes against economy. The representation of money laundering in Serbia is analyzed through its relationship with the number of adults and issued convictions for the group of criminal offenses against economy during the period from 2012 to 2015, and then, for all crimes on the territory of Republic of Serbia in that period of time. The given results indicate a very modest participation of this crime in the total crime in the country. This points out primarily two things. Namely, money laundering belongs to the group of transnational crime, and it is difficult to be detected and proved in subsequent proceedings. Furthermore, money laundering is among the crimes where there is a great „dark number“, and there are many activities in this sphere beyond the reach of the justice system and official statistics.