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{
    "id": 128610,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/128610/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 450,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Money laundering is a complex undertaking and it occurs in three bold stages. The first is placement, which is the initial stage when funds enter the economy. The second is layering, where complex networks of transactions are created to attempt to obscure the link between the initial entry point and the end of the cycle. The third is the integration stage, when the money returns to the legitimate economy. Money laundering has to go through these stages because its owners need to prevent the discovery of the crime that they have committed, which may lead to prosecution, conviction and confiscation of their criminal funds. Mr. Speaker, Sir, some commentators ask questions as to why a country should worry about money laundering as long as, through the process, a nation can attract substantial resources to finance its development programmes. To appreciate why we need to be worried about money laundering, one needs to also appreciate the kind of criminal activities that generate money that requires to be cleaned. Such activities include illegal arms sales, smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution rings, which generate huge sums of money. Other such activities include embezzlement, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes that can also produce large profits, and create the incentive to legitimise the ill-gotten gains through money laundering. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when a criminal activity generates substantial profits, the individual, or groups, involved must find a way to control the funds without attracting attention to the underlying activities of the persons involved. Criminals do this by disguising the source, changing the form, or moving the funds to a place where they are comfortable that they are not likely to attract attention."
}