Brought To Book

The cash generated from drugs manufactured in South America can travel from the Caribbean via New York through Austria to London in under a minute.

There has been an explosion in money laundering, writes Peter Lilley, partly fuelled by globalisation, deregulation and the rise and rise of the Net.

Millions of dollars can cross the planet in one-fifteenth of a second and over $2 trillion is moved across the planet daily.

Lilley emphasises that drugs, prostitution, gun running and the like are not just peripheral activities taking place in seedy alleys but are big business. And the bigger the criminal enterprise, the more money that needs to be laundered.

The proceeds of organised crime are laundered by the entire business community, not just banks, and anti-money laundering guidelines need to be extended to all financial areas. The more this concept takes hold, Lilley argues, the greater the success of reducing the flow of funds.

One of the most frightening aspects of Dirty Dealing is an index of states throughout the world with entries on money laundering, organised crime and the drugs trade. Practically all of the former Soviet empire, plus a swathe of Asian and South American economies are overshadowed by organised crime.

This global picture lends urgency to Lilley's arguments about the threat faced by legitimate business. By the way, he finds the Republic has domestic money laundering problems, but the IFSC has few reported problems with money laundering.

Like Frederick Forsyth in Day of the Jackal, Lilley explains in detail how the criminal project takes off - in this case, how to acquire a bank account without revealing your identity, an anonymous credit card, passport, dormant company and even a bank of your very own.

He takes time out to tell us that the term "money laundering" seems to have originated in the US in the 1920s. Criminals took over businesses with high cash turnovers such as laundrettes and car washes to hide their "dirty" money.

Dirty Dealing is not unique in alerting us to the dangers posed by money laundering but its comprehensive look at the practice worldwide makes it a valuable addition to studies of the subject. It is entertaining, and well written and presented.

jmulqueen@irish-times.ie