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HM Government of Gibraltar Logo Icon  What is money laundering?

Money laundering is the term commonly used to refer to the process by which criminals try to disguise the origin of the proceeds of their crimes, i.e. criminal property. Their aim in this process is to transform criminal property so that it appears to be legitimate property without arousing suspicion. Thus ‘laundering’ as the dictionary definition states is the process of ‘cleaning’ ‘dirty’ money.

The Proceeds of Crimes Act 2015 defines “money laundering” as:

  • doing any act which constitutes an offence under section 2, 3 or 4 (see Principal Money Laundering Offences);
  • doing any act which constitutes an offence under section 35, 36, 37 or 39 of the Terrorism Act 2018;
  • doing any act which constitutes an offence under any other enactment that applies in Gibraltar and that offence relates to terrorism or the financing of terrorism, or in the case of an act done otherwise than in Gibraltar, would constitute such an offence if done in Gibraltar.
The money laundering process typically has 3 distinct stages:

The placement stage

Criminal property is placed into the financial system. This stage often involves the deposit of substantial cash sums across the counters of banks and other financial institutions.

The layering stage

The deposited cash is dispersed through a variety of different means in an attempt to conceal the criminal property.

The integration stage

The above two stages have been successful and the cycle is completed, with the criminal property returned to the financial system as legitimate property.

Have you been a victim of fraud?

The GFIU is not a crime reporting agency and any reports of other crimes, e.g. fraud are to be reported to the Royal Gibraltar Police.

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