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Politicians justified the introduction of the illiberal and liberal parts of the UK's anti‐money laundering and asset recovery regime by reference to the extra‐ordinary threat posed by organised crime. This paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which the financial measures contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002 and the Serious and Organised Crime and Policing Act 2005 are actually used against this threat.

The objective is achieved by reference to four distinct datasets found on the use of these measures. The first consists of the regular, usually monthly, bulletins on the Proceeds of Crime produced by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA). The second – which reveals the length of sentences given to those convicted of money laundering offences under the POCA – was gathered from the Financial Action Task Force, the Home Office and Justice Office in Scotland. The third consists of the value of the cases which had been, and which were being, dealt with by the ARA at the time the National Audit Office produced it's report on the institution. The fourth is the number of financial reporting orders which have been imposed upon criminals, follows the discovery of an earlier version whilst examining parliamentary records.

The triangulated results suggest that the POCA powers – originally used by use against organised crime – were used against this alleged threat only on a small minority and number of occasions.

This infrequent use raises major questions of either the ability of the policing agencies including the Serious and Organised Crime Agency to take on organised crime and/or the credibility of those who exaggerated a threat of organised crime to justify the (often illiberal) powers.

This paper questions whether the POCA will achieve one of its original aims. It will interest politicians and practitioners concerned with the combating of organised crime and/or anti‐money laundering and asset recovery as well as criminologists and those interested in civil liberties.

Money laundering has been a focal problem worldwide. Governments constantly come up with initiatives to fight against this offence. To clean proceeds of corruption, the laundering of money is utilised, as it transforms “dirty” money into “clean” ones. A comparative analysis between Malaysia’s Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) and United Kingdom’s Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) is performed on the basis of the similarities and differences of both legislations, in terms of forfeiture provisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the current forfeiture regime in both jurisdictions is effective in fighting against money laundering.

This paper is based on a doctrinal research where reliance will mainly be on relevant case laws and legislations. AMLATFPUAA and POCA are key legislations which will be utilised for the purpose of analysis.

Strengths and weaknesses of both AMLATFPUAA and POCA are identified through a comparative analysis where findings show that POCA is more comprehensive than AMLATFPUAA in terms of offences covered by it and standard of proof. With that, the anti-money laundering (AML) laws can further be improvised by being a better and efficient regime where Malaysia and United Kingdom will be able to discharge their duties effectively on forfeiting benefits from criminals.

This paper offers some guiding principles for academics, banks, their legal advisers, practitioners and policy makers, not only in Malaysia but also elsewhere.

Money laundering activities were allegedly rampant and poorly regulated in the South African financial markets and financial institutions prior to 1998. In other words, prior to the enactment of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 as amended (POCA), there was no statute that expressly and adequately provided for the regulation of money laundering in South Africa. Consequently, the POCA was enacted to curb organised criminal activities such as money laundering in South Africa. Thereafter, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 as amended (FICA) was enacted in a bid to, inter alia, enhance financial regulation and the combating of money laundering in the South African financial institutions and financial markets.

The paper provides an overview analysis of the current legislation regulating money laundering in South Africa. In this regard, prohibited offences and measures that are used to curb money laundering under each relevant statute are discussed. The paper further discusses the regulation and use of customer due diligence measures to combat money laundering activities in South Africa. Accordingly, the regulation of customer due diligence under the FICA and the Banks Act 94 of 1990 as amended (Banks Act) is provided.

It is hoped that policymakers and other relevant persons will use the recommendations provided in the paper to enhance the curbing of money laundering in South Africa.

The paper does not provide empirical research.

The paper is useful to all policymakers, lawyers, law students, regulatory bodies, especially, in South Africa.

The paper seeks to curb money laundering in the economy and society at large, especially in the South African financial markets.

The paper is original research on the South African anti-money laundering regime.

The EU‐funded project ‘Middleware Platform for eMPOWERing older people and people with cognitive impairments ‐ MPOWER’ is aimed at developing a technical middleware platform that enables rapid development of flexible, domain‐specific applications that can be personalised for individual use. We focused on creating a set of reusable components that can easily be combined in order to provide the most relevant services in the user's home, eg. calendar services, messaging services and different sensor technologies. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the platform, two full‐scale proof of concept applications (POCAs) were developed and deployed to real‐life environments; one ‘smart home’ solution in Poland and one individual internet‐based digital plan in Norway. This paper presents the findings from the POCA development and trial in Norway.Seven older people and their family carers from the municipality of Trondheim participated in the pilot trial (February 2008‐April 2009), which aimed to evaluate the services provided through an individual internet‐based digital plan displayed as a calendar page. Both family carers and staff from domiciliary services could, from their home computer, add appointments and messages on the user's digital calendar. The respondents were five women and two men, aged between 65 and 92, and only three of them, the two men and one of the women, had used a computer before getting involved in the MPOWER trial.Data collection regarding use, usability, utility and acceptance took place on a regular basis after a preset schedule. Analysis followed the developmental evaluation theory, which is useful when there is uncertainty about the effects (value) of an intervention, and when it is uncertain what causes or influences these effects. Results were presented as case histories, and the analysis of the causes of the observed effects are presented in a discussion section and divided into personal, technical and structural issues.The main conclusion is that the digital calendar with a message board demonstrated the potential to support older people at home, particularly older people with memory problems who need support in structuring the day and keeping an overview of their daily activities and appointments.

This article, written by a Detective Chief Inspector with extensive experience of asset recovery, discusses how asset recovery legislation can contribute to a harm‐reduction‐led approach to enforcement. Drug supply chains to the UK and the drug markets they supply are described. The harms they create are discussed and four key elements of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) (2002) are outlined. Early results from the use of the POCA are promising.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the challenges of proving criminality in money laundering cases and the extent to which forensic accountancy within law enforcement can assist in meeting them.

This paper reviews the development of relevant case law; and considers legal viewpoints on the use of forensic accountancy evidence in court.

The use of forensic accountancy within law enforcement provides a means of enabling Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) achieve the results it was enacted to achieve.

A more resilient attitude to financial complexity is required on the part of prosecutors if complexity is not to continue to succeed as a method of rendering serious financial crime immune to prosecution.

The money laundering provisions of POCA are enacted to provide a means of prosecuting the leaders and professional enablers of organised crime groups who benefitted from crime but were able to divorce themselves from the actual crimes committed on their behalf. The failure of POCA to effectively deliver on this objective undermines its authority and reputation and thereby reduces hope in the communities that are vulnerable to organised crime.

The use of forensic accountancy within law enforcement is a new initiative. This paper sets out the need for such an initiative and it can make a significant contribution in the fight against organised crime.

The purpose of this paper is to compare, contrast and evaluate the anti‐money laundering (AML) legislation practised by the UK, Switzerland and Germany.

To facilitate the evaluation process, AML legislations and regulations of all three countries are compared based on four different aspects, i.e. criminal law, the reporting stage, the collation stage and the investigation stage.

Although specific differences and similarities between the three AML regimes are highlighted, based on the current literature, it is rather difficult to reach a valid conclusion regarding their effectiveness and efficiency.

A wide range of literature, in the original languages, was analyzed during the compilation of this paper.

Describes the greatly extended UK legislation to prevent money laundering, which is defined as the process by which the proceeds of crime and the true ownership of those proceeds are changed so that the proceeds appear to come from a legitimate source; the three stages of the money laundering process are placement, layering, and integration. Details the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002, including substantive money laundering offences pursuant to POCA and to the Terrorism Act 2000, “failing to report” offences, and “tipping off” offences. Outlines the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) 2003, which place additional anti‐money laundering administrative requirements on organizations undertaking specified regulated activities. Discusses how POCA and the MLR affect disclosure and legal privilege, and the practical effects of POCA and MLR on professionals such as finance organizations, estate agents, casinos and barristers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which the courts in the UK have interpreted the meaning of criminal property in the principal money laundering offenses under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).

This paper employs a doctrinal legal analysis and secondary data, which analyze the primary source, which is POCA itself, and secondary sources including case law, articles in academic journals, books and online databases.

The authors contend that the courts in the UK have been dynamically interpreting the ambit of money laundering offenses in POCA and that despite such judicial activism in the construction of criminal property, it has provided a much needed certainty to the law.

This paper could be a useful source of information for the practitioners, academicians, policymakers and students in this particular area of crime.

This paper explores the historical aspects of customer due diligence and related anti-money laundering measures in South Africa. Customer due diligence measures are usually employed to ensure that financial institutions know their customers well by assessing them against the possible risks they might pose such as fraud, money laundering, Ponzi schemes and terrorist financing. Accordingly, customer due diligence measures enable banks and other financial institutions to assess their customers before they conclude any transactions with them. Customer due diligence measures that are utilised in South Africa include identification and verification of customer identity, keeping records of transactions concluded between customers and financial institutions, ongoing monitoring of customer account activities, reporting unusual and suspicious transactions and risk assessment programmes. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA) as amended by the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Act 1 of 2017 (Amendment Act) is the primary statute that provides for the adoption and use of customer due diligence measures to detect and combat money laundering in South Africa. Prior to the enactment of the FICA, several other statutes were enacted in a bid to prohibit money laundering in South Africa. Against this background, the article provides a historical overview analysis of these statutes to, inter alia, explore their adequacy and examine whether they consistently complied with the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations on the regulation of money laundering.

The paper provides an overview analysis of the historical aspects of the regulation and use of customer due diligence to combat money laundering in South Africa. In this regard, a qualitative research method as well as the doctrinal research method are used.

It is hoped that policymakers and other relevant persons will adopt the recommendations provided in the paper to enhance the curbing of money laundering in South Africa.

The paper does not provide empirical research.

The paper is useful to all policymakers, lawyers, law students and regulatory bodies, especially, in South Africa.

The paper advocates for the use of customer due diligence measures to curb money laundering in the South African financial markets and financial institutions.

The paper is original research on the South African anti-money laundering regime and the use of customer due diligence measures to curb money laundering in South Africa.