What's wrong with counter-money laundering laws? For a start, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill, in a major series for Complinet / Reuters Accelus, is the mistaken name "Anti Money Laundering." Governments don't want to prevent criminals laundering money: they want intelligence that allows them to use the money trail to track criminals and to freeze, seize and confiscate proceeds of criminal conduct. So it's not "anti money laundering" it's "counter money laundering."

The article, the first part of which was published 29 June 2011, analyses everything from the language used in law and regulations to the most basic principles upon which laws to detect and deter money laundering and terrorist financing are based.

Every aspect of laws is examined, from the state of mind of those involved at each stage of the process to the mechanisms necessary to facilitate the efficient and cost-effective processes that governments impose on the citizenry in general and the financial sector in particular.

Following the analysis, Complinet will publish Morris-Cotterill's draft law that addresses the weaknesses, inconsistencies and excesses of the current crop of counter-money laundering laws and regulations around the world.

The analysis and draft law are the first ground-up attempt to produce a comprehensive, global law for more than 20 years.

Morris-Cotterill has been, since 1994, a money laundering risk management and compliance consultant following almost a quarter of a century in legal private practice in a wide range of applicable disciplines including compliance, company/commercial, transactions and civil and criminal litigation all of which provide him with a unique understanding of all aspects of money laundering.

As Head, the Anti Money Laundering Network, he has worked across the world in a variety of financial institutions and advised governments on law and regulation.

The Complinet piece applies all of that experience in an easy-to-read form.

www.complinet.com