MONEY LAUNDERING AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS COMBATING IT

Money laundering is a process that proceeds and revenues obtained from illegal activities becomes legitimate and convert to legal money and goes in economic through it. Money laundering causes economic corruption in societies and prevents their economic expansion and development. Those countries that don’t have proper mechanisms and financial controls or perform them weakly, allow money launderers, laundering their illegal proceeds through using structural weaknesses or gaps and weakness in their organizational or regulations. Since gain dirty money and laundering it, is an illegal activity and have many negative consequences on societies’ economic combating has considered global society and countries has approved special acts and regulations. Also international organizations have provided guidelines and recommendations and have done activities in order to fighting against this economic crime. To increase global attempts, plenty of international conventions and regulations as well as countries tendency to apply global guidelines for money laundering show importance and serious threats from it in nowadays. In spite of, Iran’ positive actions against money laundering in recent years, further measures should be performed yet such as; improvement of international cooperation for tracing dirty money flows, increasing banking system’ transparency, developing electrical structures, training employers and managers, consolidating banks customer’ financial information system and etc. In this paper first we discuss money laundering phenomenon and its impacts, and then we introduce international measures and international organizations combating it. Finally review Iran’ actions for fighting money laundering and provide some recommendations for improving it.