Volltext: Tax crime as predicate offence to money laundering

The more probable reaction depends on the circumstances in a specific country. In Switzerland for 
example, the legal situation, practice and jurisprudence tends to incite reporting entities to report 
114 
more''®, especially after the supervisor has expressly invited the reporting entities to do so'“. The same 
is to be concluded on behalf of Liechtenstein.' ^ 
4.2 weakening of the existing AML/CFT-regime resource-wise (private sector and 
public sector) 
Looking at the enormous efforts and resources that are and have to be put into the implementation and 
effective use of all the three systems of AFOI (US FATCA, UK FATCA and CRS), the risk of ne- 
glecting AML and CFT is evident. For the next couple of years, the AEOI is about to become at least 
as important to Legal and Compliance Departments in the private sector globally as the fight against 
ML and the financing of terrorism. The responsibilities of the FATCA responsible officer! are as 
burdensome as those of the MLRO, hence resources are stretched to cover both topics. 
The consequential question is: Are we allocating the available resources at their best use? While there 
are fully functioning authorities investigating and prosecuting tax crimes since the inception of taxes, 
i.e. the tax authorities, it is hard to see a benefit in charging authorities like the FIUs and the private 
  
15 This finding is shared by Francesco Naef / Michele Clerici, Steuerstraftaten als Vortaten der Geldwüscherei: 
Der Weg in la Terreur, in: Jusletter of April 7, 2014, although there are still other voices on the Swiss financial 
market, e.g. the Head of AML of a large cantonal bank who seriously told the author in 2014 to only report cases 
in which he has an initial suspicion in terms of the criminal procedure code. This attitude is proof of a profound 
misunderstanding of the AML/CFT-system as a whole, namely the so called inverted reporting cascade as shown 
in Annex E. 
1^ See the statement in the press release related to the 2016 annual conference held by FINMA on April 7, 2016: 
"Focusing on increased money laundering risks in the Swiss financial centre, it (FINMA) pointed out the need 
for more rigorous supervision. It (FINMA) also called for greater efforts on the part of supervised institutions: 
banks should consistently report suspicious client relationships and transactions." Additions in brackets by the 
author. The press release and other material like FINMA's annual report 2015 are available from 
https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2016/04/20160407-mm-jmk-2016/, accessed on April 10, 2016. 
LS See the article on the interview given by the head of the Liechtenstein FIU and chairman of Moneyval, Daniel 
Thelesklaf, in: St. Galler Tagblatt, April 11, 2016, available from 
http://www.tagblatt.ch/nachrichten/panorama/panorama/Wie-der-Suender-im-Beichtstuhl:art253654,4585101, 
accessed on April 17, 2016. 
"6 Just in order to give a little taste of these responsibilities, see the article “Duties of a “Responsible Officer” 
under FATCA”, by Allen J. Littman and Sarah K. Ma, BakerHostetler, Washington D.C., December 4, 2013, 
available from http://www.bakerlaw.com/duties-of-a-responsible-officer-under-fatca-12-4-2013/, accessed on 
April 3, 2016. 
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