Mobile Money Payments as Vehicles for Money Laundering: A Case Study of Malawi

Abstract

Money laundering is defined as the process of converting the proceeds derived from a wide range of underlying criminal offences, called predicate offences, to apparently legitimate property. In other words, it is the process of washing away the stain of illegality from the proceeds of crime in order to give them the appearance of legality. In fact, the nomenclature of the practice itself was inspired by America�s notorious gangster Al Capone�s practice of channelling the proceeds of his criminal enterprise through his laundromats in order to cloak their illegality so as to endow them with an appearance of legality. The crime of money laundering has been a scourge on the economies of the world, hence it has become a crime of international concern. The international community has developed numerous international treaty norms obligating states to criminalise money laundering. These norms, when incorporated into national legislation, are expected to serve as the legal basis not only for national prosecution of money laundering offences but also for international mutual legal assistance in AML (for example, international co-operation in the confiscation of criminal proceeds and extradition of money launderers).