We need to get serious about money laundering in Europe. CEPS Policy Insights No 2019/08, May 2019

2019 marks 30 years since the Sommet de l’Arche in Paris established the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat money laundering. So where have we come to in Europe and what remains to be done? Money laundering has been criminalised not just in Europe but the world over. The term ‘money laundering’, unheard of in 1989, is now in common parlance. However, the amount of proceeds of crime recovered as a result of successful money laundering prosecutions, as compared to the amount thought to be available to be laundered, is around 0.1% at best. So why is the European AML system so ineffective in reducing the impact of the underlying crimes upon European citizens? The major AML issues in Europe can be divided into three distinct areas: governance, risk management and capability. Some feel it is a simple question of reforming the European AML supervisory architecture, but the answer is much more complex and nuanced than that. Money laundering, like climate change and the threats to the natural world, is a truly European issue and needs a truly European response. CEPS intends to create a Task Force on how to achieve progress in the combat against money laundering at EU level. Interested parties are invited to contact the author, or CEPS direct

Anti-Money Laundering in the EU: Time to get serious. CEPS Task Force Report 28 Jan 2021.

Between 2 and 5% of global GDP is thought to be laundered every year, whereas only 1.1% is recovered. Anti-money laundering encompasses combating tax avoidance, the financing of terrorism, human (and human organ) trafficking, state-sponsored and corporate bribery, and the proceeds from drug-trafficking and other illegal activities. Banks and other ‘obliged entities’ complete thousands of suspicious transactions reports on a daily basis yet only a handful are followed up on by financial intelligence units (FIUs). This could be due to lack of capability, capacity or even political direction. Meanwhile, the breadth and means to launder money have also increased, facilitated by technological progress. Unfortunately, the current anti-money laundering regulations have brought little success. This report sets out the following key recommendations for a new approach to the fight against money laundering

The Mechanics of granular flow

The increasing production of agricultural grains and other granular materials emphasises the need for bulk handling methods of transportation. The gravity flow of such materials through chutes is of basic relevance to this system of materials handling. An experimental study has been made of the flow of a granular material down an inclined chute. Three materials namely Hungarian Millet, Wheat and Polythene have been tested through large scale chutes of channel section. A differential equation is proposed which describes the flow, allowing for dynamic stresses due to intergranular motion. The main part of the study is directed towards a numerical solution of this equation. As a necessary preliminary, the several phenomena associated with the flow of a granular material through an orifice-chute system are investigated in order to qualify and define their influence The coefficient of friction of an agricultural grain varies with the number of repeated passes of the grain over the chute surface. A procedure is developed in order to minimise this variability. A granular material attains steady state flow, through an orifice-chute system, after a time period which depends on the flow rate and chute geometry. A study has been made of the transient flow phase, which exists during this time period, using a photographic technique. The two regimes of flow, nominated 'Fast' and 'Slow' by earlier researchers, are investigated in order to more clearly define the essential difference between these two modes of flow. For an orifice-chute system, with the orifice located in the base of the bin, the terms 'Fast’ and 'Slow' relate to the mode of flow control through the system. The flow rate of the material through such an orifice-chute system is controlled by either the orifice or the chute. The major part of the experimental work investigates the distributions of pressure over the base and walls of a test chute and covers an analytical study of the steady state flow stream under uniform flow conditions. Using a pressure sensitive apparatus the lateral pressure at the wall and the normal pressure over the base are shown to increase rapidly near the right angled corner of the chute. A quantitative differential equation is derived for the uniform flow condition. The validity of this differential equation is tested for the non-uniform flow condition