Before
discussing the impact of money laundering, let us define the process by
which the illegal origins of assets acquired or produced by criminal
activities are covered to hide the link between the funds and the
criminal behavior.
Money
laundering has disastrous consequences related to the economy, society,
and corporate reputation. Meanwhile, the funds are often a result of
bribery, drugs smuggling, human trafficking, illegal arms trade and
terrorism funding.
Corruption and trade mispricing, provide examples of how certain procedures and systems facilitate the flow of illegal funds.
Since
the term Money Laundering is overused in Lebanon, the Middle East and
the Gulf countries and as a managing partner of a Lebanese company that
has connections in the Middle east and European market, we emphasis on
due diligence and investigate on who we are dealing with before closing
any deal or signing any contract.
In
the fight against Money Laundering, banks and the public sector are
investing to improve data collection and analysis by integrating new
digital infrastructure and upgrading the systems to improve efficiency.