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In the past decade the incidence of international crime has increased. As Louis Freeh, director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has stated, ‘grave crime is no longer bound by the constraints of borders’. As such crimes are not limited by state boundaries — approaching them on an international level is crucial. Thus, there has been an increased demand for the globalisation of efforts by law enforcement agencies to halt the rise in business and financially related crimes such as money laundering, tax fraud, securities fraud, intellectual property thefts, extortion, anti‐trust violations, computer crime, corrupt business practices and racketeering and combat violent crimes, terrorism, alien smuggling and drug trafficking.

The principle of offshore financial confidentiality is a controversial issue in offshore law. On the one hand, offshore jurisdictions view confidentiality in financial matters as an essential ingredient in the offshore industry which deserves to be protected. On the other, onshore states are increasingly hostile to confidentiality and have been willing to take drastic measures to undermine it.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the various means available to US authorities for obtaining foreign evidence and other types of international assistance in money laundering cases. The means analysed here include mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) and similar processes; multilateral treaties; tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) and tax treaties (for a narrow range of money laundering offences); court‐sponsored procedures for taking foreign depositions, including letters rogatory; the use of unilateral compulsory measures, such as subpoenas, for obtaining foreign evidence, and the use of FinCEN and Interpol resources. The initiatives of the G7, the Financial Action Task Force and the OECD regarding international cooperation in money laundering matters are also briefly treated.

At the stroke of midnight on 30th June, 1997 Hong Kong was returned to the People's Republic of China. China takes justifiable pride in what has to date been a smooth transition, but the government in Beijing is now confronted by a demanding reality, the need to make detailed arrangements regulating the legal ties between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the sovereign power. Not the least of the problems concern the degree and means by which mutual legal assistance in criminal matters will be made available. The puzzle for the People's Republic is that Hong Kong's dependent status begs a high degree of mutual cooperation with China, but the procedural safeguards that exist to govern Hong Kong's cooperation with third jurisdictions may not easily be used as a model: the safeguards built into the current legislation would operate to exclude the sovereign power! On the other hand, if future cooperation between Hong Kong and China is to take place without safeguards local and international confidence may suffer.

This paper aims to, inspired by the media report concerning the misuse of China UnionPay cards, examine the elements of money laundering offence in Macau SAR through a case study, which also calls for the mutual legal assistance between mainland China and Macau.

This paper provides the case study of China UnionPay scandal in accordance with Macau law and comparative analysis of legislation and regulations in mainland China and Macau. Relevant suggestions are presented.

Despite the lack of actually discovered money laundering cases involving China UnionPay, the methods of smuggling money from mainland China across the border to Macau implied a “risk exposure” of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) mechanism of Macau SAR. The risk of money laundering therein makes it necessary to establish and enforce the inter-regional mutual legal assistance for AML. Sensitive issues thereof shall be handled ipso jure and reasonably.

This paper is a good attempt to touch upon the long-term puzzle in inter-regional mutual legal assistance in Greater China. The specific case study may act as an ice-breaker about how to develop inter-regional mutual legal assistance in specific criminal matters.

This paper, first, reacts to the legal problem caused by China UnionPay scandal, which also will be beneficial for the legal debates and policy-making upon the establishment and enforcement of mutual legal assistance in Greater China.

The purpose of this paper is to underscore the current supranational anti‐money laundering (AML) regimes articulating challenges of harnessing them as a robust framework. Some aspects of the above framework are created under the auspices of the United Nations treaties, some are regional‐based initiatives while others are ad hoc arrangements.

The paper was written on the basis of the supranational framework against money laundering such as the United Nations Convention against drug trafficking and other psychotropic substances. Owing to the limitations of the above AML model law, the paper utilised a qualitative research methodology, exploring a wide range of the current AML regimes. The paper has also exploited the revised AML framework which expands the scope of the offence to encompass, not only proceeds from drug trafficking but also serious criminal activities (smuggling, fraud, serious financial crimes, and the sale of stolen goods). Ideally, the paper has been written based on the provisions of the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crimes and its attendant three protocols adopted in Palermo (2000); and the Financial Action Task Force (2004). The foregoing regimes underscore an essential framework for the study of money laundering and its attendant predicate offences globally.

The findings of the study clearly demonstrate that the current AML framework is not robust enough to caution countries against the threat of money laundering. There is a gaping gap in the law of money laundering within and between regions even though there is a global framework in place. This is presumably the reason why some countries have not fully transposed some aspects of current AML regimes locally.

The gaps in the law against money laundering – both in relation to the way they are created and enforced signify that states still need to do more collectively to stem the threat of money laundering. The current intransigence in application of AML laws in some countries sign‐post the inherent challenges of globalisation of international finance.

While there is a growing body of literature generated on supranational AML regimes, this paper is distinctly based on the interplay of global and local factors in harnessing it. Thus, the research design of this paper is connected by two strands – a review of existing supranational AML framework and the inherent challenges faced by individual states in domesticating it. The paper is also written based on some practical experiences of harnessing global AML regimes in some countries.

Supporting the international fight against drug trafficking and serious crime is hard to contest; it is like being in favour of family values. Likewise, therefore, the fight against money laundering, ie burying or disguising the financial proceeds of those activities, including helping someone else to do so. The real and potential long‐term damage to societies, honest government, the rule of law and sound economies is now well recognised. But, on closer inspection, the route mapped out by the international community to achieve the laudable goal of putting serious criminals (and those who assist them) out of business by attacking the financial jugular causes a number of political, economic and legal tensions.

Since the abolition of exchange control in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it has been possible instantly to transfer money of any amount or denomination virtually anywhere in the world. It means that, because the criminal law is territorially based, and differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the investigation and prosecution of fraud and the related offences of money laundering and corruption are peculiarly dependent upon mutual legal assistance between states.

The investigation and enforcement sub‐group felt that its contribution to this project was best made by suggesting answers to this question:

The study aims to explore the challenges of developing jurisdictions like Pakistan in achieving significant mutual legal assistance from the international community, especially for sharing financial information.

A qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews was adopted to complete the study’s objective. The selection of financial experts for interviews was based on purposive sampling.

This study concluded that Pakistan is facing several challenges, including mistrust of the international community; political disinterestedness and instability; delaying tactics in implementation, capacity and resources of law enforcers; and proximity with hostile neighbours.

Rare studies discussed this issue in the Pakistani context.