Illicit Finance and the Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean


Book Description

This book provokes fresh ways of thinking about small developing States within the transnational legal order for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation (TAMLO). From the global wars on drugs and terror to journalistic exposés such as the ‘Paradise’, ‘Panama’ and ‘Pandora’ Papers, the Commonwealth Caribbean has been discursively stigmatised as a mythical island paradise of ‘rogue’ States. Not infrequently, their exercise of regulatory self-determination has been presented as the selling of their economic sovereignty to facilitate shady business deals and illicit finance from high-net-worth individuals, kleptocrats, tax-dodgers, organised crime networks and terrorist financiers. This book challenges conventional wisdom that Commonwealth Caribbean States are among the ‘weakest links’ within the global ecosystem to counter illicit finance. It achieves this by unmasking latent interests, and problematising coercive extraterritorial regulatory and surveillance practices, along the onshore/offshore and Global North/South axes. Interdisciplinary in its outlook, the book will appeal to policymakers, regulatory and supervisory authorities, academics and students concerned with better understanding legal and development policy issues related to risk-based regulatory governance of illicit finance. The book also provides an interesting exposition of substantive legal and policy issues arising from money laundering related to corruption and politically exposed persons, offshore finance, and offshore Internet gambling services.




A Research Agenda for Economic Crime and Development


Book Description

This contemporary Research Agenda examines the threats to stability and sustainability presented by economically motivated crime and misconduct. Featuring contributions from distinguished experts in the field of criminal law and justice, this book proposes avenues for future research into the legal frameworks designed to prevent and manage economic crime and corruption.




International Anti-Money Laundering and Soft Law


Book Description

Adopting a mixed-methods approach, this book assesses the role of soft law as a technique to repress and prevent money laundering. The consequence of the combination of a non-traditional subject matter with the limitations of traditional international law instruments has meant that lawmakers seeking international solutions to the problems of money laundering have had to innovate. This book addresses two fundamental issues in the context of existing international and domestic responses to the problem of money laundering that have hitherto been neglected. These include the nature of the treaty obligations to criminalise money laundering, and the role of soft law as a technique to regulate it globally. The book concludes that international legal harmonisation and approximation of domestic anti-money laundering law through soft law remains helpful in addressing this pressing problem. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Financial Crime, Anti-Money Laundering Law, Regulation, International Soft Law, and Comparative Law.




Counter-Terrorism Financing and Iran


Book Description

This book blends doctrinal and empirical research to examine the phenomenon of counter-terrorism financing at the level of both international and Iranian national law. The work discusses the legitimacy, fairness and effectiveness of the international counter-terrorism financing framework, and then examines to what extent Iran has implemented it. The main focuses of the book are on the criminalisation of terrorism financing; financial regulations as preventive measures applied to the sectors at risk of terrorism financing, including the formal financial system, the informal financial system and the non-profit organisations; and the international and unilateral sanctions imposed on individuals and entities who support terrorist acts, terrorists and terrorist organisations. Given that terrorism and terrorism financing are socio-legal, political and economic phenomena in nature, the book approaches the problem of terrorism financing from an interdisciplinary perspective, exploring the relationship between the characteristics of Iran as a state recognised for supporting non-state militant actors (NSMAs), some of which are designated as terrorist by some countries. Empirical research includes documentary fieldwork in Iran, with the collection of original and primary materials that have not previously been analysed. The book also adopts a policy transfer approach, using the rules and regulations of the United Kingdom. Presenting a non-Western perspective on counter-terrorism financing, the book will be essential reading for students, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of financial crime.




Tax Evasion and the Law


Book Description

This book provides a critical and contemporary evaluation of the laws and enforcement policies pertaining to tax evasion in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US). Since the inception of taxes, revenue collection authorities around the world have attempted to address the seemingly perennial problem of individuals evading their tax liabilities. The financial crisis has shone a new light on the issue with an increased interest in using the criminal justice system as a means of addressing it in the UK. In sharp contrast to the UK, the US has a strong record of prosecuting crimes of tax evasion, whether committed by individuals or professional corporate facilitators. Providing an evaluation of the UK’s tax evasion laws and enforcement policy, through a comparative approach, this work highlights insights provided by the US experience. In so doing, the book explores the interconnections between tax evasion and money laundering, identifying best practices, omissions, and areas for reform. The work will be a valuable resource for researchers, academics, and policy-makers working in the areas of financial crime, financial law, accountancy and criminal justice.




Organised Crime, Financial Crime, and Criminal Justice


Book Description

Organised crime and financial crime are pressing global problems, increasingly recognised as policy priorities both by national governments and international bodies and corporations. This proudly interdisciplinary collection is built on the premise that these topics are too often artificially separated, both in scholarship and the classroom. Bringing together scholars from law, the social sciences, and the humanities, this book showcases a diverse range of perspectives on these complex and compelling global issues, and the criminal justice challenges that they pose. The themes discussed include legal theory and procedure; regulation and enforcement; prevention and punishment; media representation and perception. Readers are encouraged to think outside traditional disciplinary bounds and form their own connections and conclusions inspired by the juxtaposition of perspectives rarely seen together in the same volume.




Commonwealth Caribbean Constitutional Law


Book Description

This book includes the reforms proposed by the various Caribbean Commissions since 1985, making it a comprehensive guide to constitutional law in the Caribbean. It outlines sources of the law and developing changes in the doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament and the Conventions of the Constitution as well as in the role of the Public Service. There is also an expanded commentary on the Caribbean judiciary in which special reference is made to the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice.Caribbean Constitutional Law will be valuable to students of law and political science and practitioners wishing to renew their acquaintance with the basic concepts of constitutional law.




Commonwealth Caribbean Business Law


Book Description

Commonwealth Caribbean Business Law breaks away from the traditional English approach of treating business law primarily as the law of contract and agency. The book takes a panoramic view of the foundation of various legal systems with a subsequent examination of different areas of legal liability that may affect business activities. These areas include contract law, agency, tort law, criminal law, and internet law as significant challenges confronting the business sector. The book primarily targets the development of business law in several Caribbean Commonwealth jurisdictions but also, where appropriate, embraces the jurisprudence of other Commonwealth nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. With respect to internet law, the proliferation of judicial pronouncements emerging from the United States provided the platform for the only non-Commonwealth treatment of a topic. The approach of the book is to use excerpts from judgments so as to allow students, particularly the non-legal student, to understand legal principles as espoused by the judiciary without the filtering bias of authors.




Countering Terrorist and Criminal Financing


Book Description

Countering Terrorist and Criminal Financing provides an up-to-date overview and critical analysis of terrorism financing, focusing on tactics and practical measures directed at preventing money laundering and countering the flow of terrorism funding. In doing so, the book details some of the major doctrines, outlining policies of states and key regional and global partnerships in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Chapters bring together a diverse range of expert scholars and practitioners who specialise in theoretical principles, utilising empirical research and an analysis of the cross-national networks and cross-group collaborations that underpin the illicit activities that fund such groups. The book serves as the most current and comprehensive resource in the area of countering the financing of terrorism and organised crime—incorporating regional and group-specific approaches, challenges, and consequences. This focus encompasses legal measures, social policies, and military operations and security force responses by states and non-state actors to assemble the most up-to-date counter-terrorist financing information into a single volume.




Crime and Violence in the Caribbean


Book Description

This volume provides an overview of the Caribbean countries, its colonial history, causes, costs and consequences of crime and violence in the Caribbean. The contributors pull from primary research and the available data from multiple sources including national and country specific reports to assess the magnitude, characteristics, and the changing nature of crimes in various Caribbean countries. Discussion is offered on the following crime issue: gender-based violence, homicides, drugs, gangs, money laundering, murder suicided, deportation and the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to fight crime. In addition, the book provides a discussion of the crime prevention capabilities of selected countries looking at the nature of the crime problem, offers an assessment of the crime prevention capabilities and makes suggestions for policy development.