III. ESTUDIO PERSONAL
2. Rebeldía y heroicidad: el mito de la estrella
Organised crime, as has been said above, decides to replace money in the economy in different ways. When it decides to put money in the economic and financial legal system or to invest it in some financial havens, it needs to rely upon some institutions. These institutions can be of three types: financial institutions, non-bank financial institutions and non-financial institutions. The distinction between the first two types of institution is related to the fact that the first one is usually protected by some domestic regulations and is more prone to be checked by the law enforcement agency and the administrative organs, thanks to its importance in the economy of the country, while non-bank financial institutions are usually not targeted by domestic regulations, or at least much less targeted than financial institutions. Non-bank financial institutions provide bank- like services just as financial institutions do, but they were and are less supervised237. A list of non-bank financial institutions is provided: “bureau de change; cheque cashers and money transmission services; security and commodities brokers; insurance companies; and underground and parallel banking systems”238
. A type of non-bank financial system to launder money is a financial service called money or value transfer service: cash, cheques and other monetary instruments or stores of value are accepted in this financial bureau and then the same amount of money is paid in another country in another form239. In some countries there are no identity checks, an easier way for organised crime to exploit the system without being recognised.
Organised crime relies not only upon financial institutions, but also upon non-financial institutions. Non-financial institutions are businesses, which conduct economic activity and are remunerative, and shell companies240. As far as money
237
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit., p. 38.
238
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit., p. 38.
239
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit..
240
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laundering is concerned, shell companies are fake companies, which do not really work for the purpose of making profits, but for the sole purpose of hiding the illicit origin of the proceeds from crime. Usually, the non-financial institutions are highly cash-intensive businesses, such as retail shops, car washes, vending machine enterprises, restaurants and bars, which are located abroad in financial centres 241. The only aim of using these types of institutions is to repatriate money, they create the legitimacy of the proceeds of crime without realistically engaging themselves in real activities. Money is repatriated in three different ways: by foreign direct investments, which means investing in a domestic legitimate business from foreign funds; bank loans, which means opening two funds, one legitimate repaid by an illicit one (the illicit one has somehow had the look of legitimacy); and invoice manipulation, which involves inflation of invoices or the creation of fake invoices242. The activity of money laundering can be carried out smoothly without the purchase or the reception of the goods. An example is given by a commentator, he describes a movie theatre activity where the owner is a shell company which is used by organised crime to create fake incomes selling fake tickets, tickets that nobody actually uses243.
Other non-financial institutions are exploited without awareness or assent of the institutions themselves. They are casinos and other gambling institutions, and vendors of luxury goods, vendors of precious metals, art and antique dealers and auction houses244. Gambling has been described as legal in many countries and less well regulated than banking systems, at the same time it offers services which can be compared to banks245. Furthermore, gambling offers anonymity, a very important tool for organised criminals who seek to hide their illicit activities. Finally, gambling institutions are sometimes directly managed by organised crime246, which gives it the freedom and the relative tranquillity of handling money laundering operations.
241
O.CUCUZZA, op. cit., p. 41.
242
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit..
243
S.FAIELLA, Riciclaggio e crimine organizzato transnazionale, Milano, Giuffré Editore, 2009.
244
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit., p. 43.
245
O.CUCUZZA,op. cit..
246
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Postal services, quick stop markets, telegraphic services and commodity brokers are other non-financial institutions potentially involved in money laundering activities. Automobile sales, agricultural markets, jewellers and real estate are other weak flanks of the market for money laundering247.
To conclude, the use of bank financial institutions, non-bank financial institutions and/or non-financial institutions permit organised crime to convert the illicit proceeds of crime into other types of assets, create a sense of legitimacy about them and some of these institutions permit hiding the true beneficiaries of them. Again, the real aim of all these operations of money laundering is to avoid confiscation of the hard-obtained proceeds of crime. After hours, days or months of hard working, organised crime groups aim at benefiting from them and enjoying the chances they have created with this hard work. Their broader aim is to take advantage of a lack of anti-money laundering measures or measures which are insufficiently effective.