Financial Crime World

Title: “ABC of Anti-Money Laundering Laws in Spain: An In-depth Look”

Spain’s robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime is governed by several pieces of legislation:

  • Article 301 of the Spanish Criminal Code (SCC): Penalizes individuals for interacting with assets derived from unlawful activities, designed to hide their criminal origin.
  • Law 10/2010 and Royal Decree 304/2014: Spanish laws transposing EU Directive 2005/60/EC, focusing on measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

2. Proving a Criminal Violation:

Establishing a money laundering offense requires the Spanish authorities to prove the following elements:

Criminal origin:

  • Unusually large sums
  • Suspicious transactions
  • Connections to criminal networks

Interaction with the assets:

  • Acquiring
  • Possessing
  • Using
  • Transferring
  • Hiding

Intent to hide the criminal origin: Conscious concealment is essential.

Wilful misconduct or gross negligence: Perpetrator’s intentional or negligent actions make it impossible to trace the assets’ illicit origins.

3. Predicate Offenses:

  • Any criminal offense defined in the SCC
  • Foreign crimes
  • Tax offenses

Some scholars disagree about the interpretation of tax offenses as predicate offenses.

4. Extraterritorial Jurisdiction:

Spanish courts have jurisdiction even if:

  • The predicate offense was committed abroad
  • The criminal acts were partially or totally carried out abroad

5. Corporate Criminal Liability:

  • Money laundering is a crime for legal entities
  • They can be held responsible if they failed to implement sufficient internal controls

6. Investigative Authorities:

  • The Public Prosecutor’s office conducts investigations
  • SEPBLAC, Spain’s Financial Intelligence Unit, analyzes suspicious activity reports and collaborates with Competent Public Prosecutor Offices

7. Prosecution:

  • Prosecution office and the judiciary handle prosecution
  • Criminal proceedings start based on public complaint, ex officio investigation, or public prosecutor’s initiation
  • Jurisdiction over the case depends on the severity of the crime

8. Statute of Limitations:

  • Money laundering offenses have a statute of limitations ranging from 10 to 15 years
  • Duration depends on the position of the offender in the penalty classification