van Leeuwen, Dirk --- "Prosecuting money laundering at the ICC: can it stop the funding of international criminal organisations?" [2017] ELECD 1501; in Van der Wilt, Harmen; Paulussen, Christophe (eds), "Legal Responses to Transnational and International Crimes" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 181

Book Title: Legal Responses to Transnational and International Crimes

Editor(s): Van der Wilt, Harmen; Paulussen, Christophe

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781786433985

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Prosecuting money laundering at the ICC: can it stop the funding of international criminal organisations?

Author(s): van Leeuwen, Dirk

Number of pages: 20

Abstract/Description:

This chapter deals with the question whether money laundering as a criminal offence should be added to the catalogue of international crimes that the International Criminal Court (ICC) deals with. It has been suggested that including it would provide an effective tool to stop money flowing to criminal organisations in the business of committing international crimes and terrorism. The chapter concludes that it is, at this time, not fruitful to include the crime. Money laundering is not suited to stop money flows as it has the tendency to look back and examine whether there is a predicate crime, instead of looking forward and ask whether the purpose of the money is criminal in nature. Additionally, the current subject-matter jurisdiction of the Court provides for too small a catalogue of possible predicate crimes for money laundering and the Court has too few possibilities to execute search, seizure and confiscation measures. The possible prevention of positive jurisdiction conflicts also has not yielded a strong argument for inclusion of money laundering as an ICC-crime.