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Money laundering on the rise: DPP

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By James Mitchell
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2 minute read

Australian cases of money laundering are increasing, according to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Speaking at the ASIC Annual Forum in Sydney yesterday, DPP Robert Bromwich SC said money laundering is one area that has seen “a lot of growth” and is a crime that has regulatory issues which “cut across into ASIC and the ACCC”.

“We have a reserved decision waiting on whether money laundering gets sentenced on the basis of the money laundering, rather than the underlying predicate offending,” Mr Bromwich said.

“If money laundering can be sentenced on its own terms, that will certainly become a very powerful weapon.”

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Speaking about the current penalties for white collar crime, ACCC commissioner Sarah Court said while she believes current penalties are “high enough”, corporate crime cases often have a “long tail”. 

“Cartel investigation and prosecutions, like all white collar crime, have what I call a ‘long tail’ in that often the misconduct can be hard to detect and the investigation can be long and complex,” Ms Court said.

“Our challenge is to make sure that new penalties both in a criminal context and in a civil regime are introduced in the courts and that we are able to persuade the Federal courts to impose increased penalties.

“We have the tools there, we have the system, it is now just putting those into practice.

“The challenge has been the long tail of the investigations into these matters,”  she said.

The DPP, Mr Bromwich, said the reduced maximum sentences for fraud cases made prosecution difficult. 

“The maximums went down from 20 years to 10 years,” he said.

“There is no question that it makes it more difficult when the maximums are lower.”

 

Money laundering on the rise: DPP

Australian cases of money laundering are increasing, according to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

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