Money Laundering and the Law in the Republics of Fiji and Vanuatu (Working Paper) [1999] JSPL 18; (1999) 3 Journal of South Pacific Law

Working Paper 4 of Volume 3 1999

Money Laundering

& The Law

In

The Republics of Fiji and Vanuatu

A Critical Analysis

By: Anselm Herman

© Anselm Herman
USP Law School, 1999.

Table of Contents

1. The Global Economy (Offshore) – Background
2. Fiji & Vanuatu – Vulnerability Of Small Island States
3. Money Laundering – The Offence – Legislation [ Fiji & Vanuatu ]
4. Global Enforcement Agencies & Initiatives (Role & Effectiveness)
5. Recommendations On the Law
   
   1. The Global Offshore Economy

An overview of the environment in which Money Laundering operates.

Global Organized Crime has been said to be a "Big Business". It is evident that profit and personal gain motivate many criminals. It is these profits that are essential for the funding of the business and thus the expansion of its criminal activities. Theoretically, it would be an effective deterrent to "attack" the profits of organized crime,

which shall be dealt with in the next Chapter.

Wealth and consequently "criminal profits" are thought to be effectively hidden by reposing it in Offshore sanctuaries. Once offshore, wealth can be brought back onshore after obscuring the true identity of its ownership. This is in essence, the process by which money is laundered. The international trust business has been said to be the cornerstone of international wealth planning and that at present rates of growth, all private wealth would, by the year 2010 be held through trust structures of one form or the other.

It is submitted that International Criminal Wealth Planning would also be viable in offshore sanctuaries such as Vanuatu and even Fiji with its well-established financial systems. To put this in to context, gross income for Port Vila’s (Vanuatu) accountancy, trust, legal and banking firms totaled about $US20.36 million in the first three quarters of 1998 according to Reserve Bank of Vanuatu.