Money laundering

Money laundering is generally regarded as the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity, source, and/or destination of illegally gained money by which the proceeds of crime are converted into assets which appear to have a legitimate origin. In the United Kingdom the statutory definition is wider[1]. It is common to refer to money legally obtained as "clean", and money illegally obtained as "dirty".

In the past, the term money laundering was applied only to financial transactions related to organized crime. Today its definition is often expanded by government and international regulators such as the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to mean any financial transaction which generates an asset or a value as the result of an illegal act, which may involve actions such as tax evasion or false accounting. In the UK, it does not even need to involve money, but any economic good. Courts involve money laundering committed by private individuals, drug dealers, businesses, corrupt officials, members of criminal organizations such as the Mafia, and even states.

As financial crime has become more complex, and "Financial Intelligence" (FININT) has become more recognized in combating international crime and terrorism, money laundering has become more prominent in political, economic, and legal debate. Money laundering is ipso facto illegal; the acts generating the money almost always are themselves criminal in some way (for if not, the money would not need to be laundered).


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Clinton urges Iran to fully engage in nuclear talks
By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Manama, Bahrain

Hillary Clinton said sanctions were forcing Iran into serious negotiations
Continue reading the main story
Iran nuclear crisis

Will fuelling Bushehr lead to a bomb?
Squeezing Iran: Oil and sanctions
Q&A: Iran nuclear issue
UN sanctions against Iran
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Iran to enter next week's nuclear talks in good faith.

The US and its partners will hold talks with the Iranians in Geneva next week.

Mrs Clinton also told the BBC that Iran can enrich uranium for civilian purposes in the future, a rare statement for an American official.

Washington has always been vague when asked whether Iran should one day be allowed to enrich its own uranium for civilian energy.

But Mrs Clinton told the BBC that Iran can enrich uranium for civilian purposes at some future date once it has demonstrated it can do so in a responsible manner and in accordance with Iran's international obligations.

"We told them that they are entitled to the peaceful use of civil nuclear energy," she said.

"But they haven't yet restored the confidence of the international community, to the extent where the international community would feel comfortable allowing them to enrich.

"Iran has to come to the table recognising that they have lost the confidence of even longtime supporters and allies or those who believed them and took them at face value."

'Sober assessment'
While Iran is in theory allowed to enrich uranium as a member of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the international community says it cannot enjoy that right while it is in breach of the NPT.


US officials rarely refer to Iran's right to carry out uranium enrichment
Mrs Clinton's words do not signal a sudden change in policy, but they are one of the clearest indications yet that the US accepts that Iran will one day enrich its own uranium for civilian use.

Israel in contrast insists Iran should never be allowed to do so.

US administrations usually refer to Iran's right to the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy, but rarely to the right to enrich.

The American secretary of state also said the Iranians came to Geneva talks on Monday with "a much more sober assessment of what isolation means", now that new tough sanctions are in place.

"We know that they're having an effect inside Iran," she said. "We hope that will cause them to have the kind of serious negotiation we're seeking."

The Geneva meeting will be lead by the EU's Chief of External Relations, Lady Catherine Ashton.

The last such talks took place a year ago.

Mrs Clinton later spoke at the opening dinner of a security conference - in the same room as her was Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

She urged Iran to restore the confidence of the international community and to make that choice for Iran's people.

Mr Mottaki did not react visibly to her words and concentrated on his dinner.








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