The Foreign Experience of Criminalization of Failure to Report Suspicious Transactions: Lessons for Ukraine

Abstract

Abstract. The article attempts to understand foreign experience of criminalization of failure to report suspicious transactions. It is noted that in today's conditions, the issue of preventing and combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is becoming increasingly relevant. After all, against the backdrop of the development of military conflicts, the problem of legalization (laundering) of proceeds in Ukraine and the world is constantly gaining momentum. The purpose of the work is to understand foreign experience of criminalization of failure to report suspicious transactions in the context of clarifying the possibility and limits of its implementation in Ukraine. For this purpose, the relevant legislative acts of the USA, Great Britain, Italy and Ukraine, as well as scientific literature on the topic, were selected and processed using formal-legal, system-structural, comparative-legal and qualitative methods of cognition. As a result, it was established that the analogue of the intentional violation of the requirements of the legislation on the prevention and counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, provided for by the criminal legislation of Ukraine, is the criminally punishable act in the form of failure to report suspicious transactions, also enshrined in the legislation of the United States of America, Great Britain and Italy. However, despite the undoubted positiveness of this approach to determining the objective side of the crime under investigation, the national legislation of the above-mentioned countries in this area is not devoid of shortcomings that hinder the effective application of criminal liability for failure to report suspicious transactions as an important component of the mechanism for preventing and combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In particular, this concerns the terminological uncertainty of suspicion as a key feature. The current legislation of the United States of America, Great Britain and Italy does not contain a universal definition of what is considered a suspicious transaction. Such a legal gap calls into question the possibility of implementing the main task of criminal liability for failure to report suspicious transactions - to ensure effective prevention and counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, leading to an overload of the system with often unfounded reports. The scientific novelty of the work is presented in the form of the author's concept for reforming the relevant criminal law norms of Ukraine in the area under study. The article concludes with an indication of possible steps that can be taken to increase the effectiveness of the mechanism for preventing and countering the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which reflect the practical value of the work.

Keywords: criminally punishable offenses; criminalization of acts; suspicious transactions; failure to report financial information; counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime; criminal legislation of Ukraine; foreign experience.