Criminal Legal and Procedural Problems and Prospects for Improvement in Preventing and Combating Money Laundering. Summary of the Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

The legitimate purpose of confiscation of criminally acquired property can be defined as the removal of criminally acquired property from legal civil circulation in order to prevent its further circulation and the commission of further criminal offences, as well as to reduce the financial interest in committing criminal offences. During the research of court practice and the latest trends, the author has come to the conclusion that in order to recognize property as criminally obtained, changes in the current regulatory framework are necessary, as well as time and understanding in the appropriate application of the relevant norms in practice. The work examines current problems and trends in cases of money laundering. In order to decide the question of the legal origin of the property, there are often cases when the presented evidence is evaluated subjectively by the parties leading the process, when in fact there is no evidence base on the criminal origin of the funds. In the Latvian legal system, in any criminal offense resulting in the acquisition of criminal assets, or predicate crimes, confiscation of property or money is provided for, if there is sufficient reason to suspect that this property was obtained as a result of a criminal offense, that is, without a conviction, thus deductively searching for the subject of the criminal offense and actually bypassing the purpose of the Criminal Procedure Law, which provides for such a criminal procedure procedure that ensures the effective application of the norms of the Criminal Law and the fair settlement of criminal legal relations without unjustified interference in a person's life, because as practice shows, the actual procedure does not provide an effective mechanism, but unreasonably violates the rights of the person. The topic of the doctoral thesis “Criminal legal and procedural issues of prevention and combating of money laundering and prospects for against money laundering” was chosen, taking into account that in everyday work and the learning process, it is not uncommon to encounter cases where property or some other material value is confiscated in cases simply because there is no understanding or adequate education, knowledge and practical experience, which leads to unreasonable and subjective decisions, thus recognizing property as criminally obtained and confiscating it for the benefit of the state. With such actions, a risk is also created for the country itself, as various types of claims are often raised, including for damages in connection with human rights violations found by the European Court of Humanities, which is already a signal to the Latvian legislature about the need to create a more effective mechanism for confiscation of criminally obtained funds.