Money Laundering in the Netherlands Antilles: A Criminal Concealment of Illicit Funds

Money laundering continues to be a significant challenge for law enforcement authorities and financial institutions. In the exotic Caribbean region of the Netherlands Antilles, this clandestine activity has drawn increased scrutiny following the implementation of strict anti-money laundering regulations.

Definition of Money Laundering

According to the Wwft BES (Wet wetzaken financieel en economisch terrein Bestendig Besetaansgewest), article 435, money laundering is the illegal disguising of the origins of criminally acquired funds, transforming them into seemingly legitimate assets ¹. It is essential to note that money laundering no longer requires the involvement of a predicate offense, such as drug trafficking or human trafficking ². Instead, it can stand on its own as a criminal act.

As defined by the FIU Netherlands, money laundering is:

• “The execution or procurement of acts that provide seemingly lawful origins for an increase in assets that have been kept from the official authorities.” ³

In simpler terms, money laundering is the means to give a legitimate cover to ill-gotten gains.

The Netherlands Antilles’ Approach to Money Laundering

The Netherlands Antilles have adopted a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to money laundering, recognizing that all criminal activities can potentially generate funds that may require laundering. This broad-spectrum policy, also known as the all-crimes approach, allows for the targeting of transactions with ties to a wide array of criminal conduct. Criminal activities encompassed by this approach include, but are not limited to, child sexual abuse imagery, subsidy fraud, and cybercrime ⁴.

European Directive on Combating Money Laundering

In an initiative led by the European Union (EU), all EU member states are now obliged to classify 22 specific criminal activities as predicate offenses for money laundering ⁵. Activated on December 3, 2020, this directive reinforces the effort to combat money laundering and its associated criminal underworld.

The all-crimes approach is a united effort among EU countries to effectively tackle the intricate world of money laundering. It includes the following criminal activities:

• Cybercrime
• Corruption
• Fraud
• Sexual exploitation