On the issue of the qualification of the legalization (laundering) of funds or other property acquired by criminal means

In the modern criminal law system, the fight against the laundering of illegal income and criminally acquired property occupies a key position. By legalizing illegally obtained funds, criminals significantly complicate the work of law enforcement agencies in detecting and investigating primary crimes. At the same time, a number of problems, especially in the field of criminal legislation, hinder the effective opposition to this type of criminal activity. The subject of the research is the criminal law aspects of money laundering. The purpose of the work is to analyze the current state of legislation in the field of countering legalization (laundering), identify problems of law enforcement and develop proposals for improving criminal legislation. The research paper considers: statistics of those convicted under Articles 174 and 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the identification of discrepancies between the number of crimes and the number of persons brought to justice; problems in qualifying the actions of those accused of legalizing criminal funds and property; the need to prove the specific purpose of the offender; gaps in legislation regarding criminal prosecution for laundering criminally obtained funds abroad. The methodological basis of this work is the following methods: dialectics, induction, deduction, as well as statistical, formal and logical, as well as the method of regulatory analysis, which allow a deeper understanding of the problems of money laundering qualification. Results of the work – specific measures have been proposed to improve criminal legislation. Scope of application – the results can be used to improve the regulatory framework, as well as in scientific research in the field of criminal law. The scientific novelty of the study is expressed in the identification of problematic aspects and the need for amendments to Articles 174 and 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including the introduction of a minimum threshold for the amount of legalized funds and the establishment of administrative responsibility for laundering small amounts. It is also proposed to supplement the legislation with a provision on criminal liability for the legalization in Russia of proceeds from crimes committed in other countries. The conclusions that were formulated in the work emphasize that the existing legislation in the field of combating money laundering has a number of disadvantages that lead to low effectiveness in combating this type of crime.

money laundering, latency, criminal proceeds, financial transactions, criminal liability, problems, qualifications, legislation, counteraction, judicial practice