Trade-based money laundering and informal remittance services: implications on the sustainability of the balance of payments of a small open economy

PurposeThis study aims to discuss the consequences of trade-based money laundering (TBML) and informal remittance services on the sustainability of the position of balance of payments and net foreign assets of a small open economy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a case study design using facts related to TBML and informal remittance services on the balance of payment and net foreign assets of Sri Lanka.FindingsThe contextual analysis reveals that the growth of the informal economy promotes informal remittance services in Sri Lanka. The policy decision to peg local currency to US dollars as a result of a shortage of foreign exchange had forced people to use informal channels for different purposes. The unclear and vague customer due diligence process of the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime also has forced people to use informal remittance services. Criminals especially drug traffickers have grabbed the promoted informal remittance services to transfer proceeds from Sri Lanka to overseas drug suppliers. On the other hand, systematic deficiencies in monitoring and regulation of movement of fund transfers and merchandise across borders provide opportunities for criminals to use different TBML techniques to transfer funds. These limitations force policymakers and regulators to think of developing a comprehensive payment ecosystem to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Therefore, the global initiative is required to move towards a payment ecosystem from a recommendation-based AML/CFT regime to reduce global crimes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was designed to discuss the implications of TBML and informal remittance services on the balance of payments and net foreign assets in a small open economy. The structure and size of the economy, the strength of the overall economy and the AML/CFT regime will play an important role in controlling criminal activities and combating money laundering of an economy;hence, the impact of TBML and informal remittance services will vary accordingly across the countriesOriginality/valueThis paper is an original work done by the authors, which discusses the implications of TBML and informal remittance services on the balance of payments and net foreign assets of an emerging market context.

International Criminal Cooperation in the Shadow of the Coronavirus Pandemic 1

European cooperation in criminal matters is a priority in all EU Member States, whether in the detection, investigation or judicial fields. In recent years, I have been carrying out research in the field of organised crime, during which I have realised that in investigations involving two or more Member States, it is almost impossible to achieve the desired objective without criminal cooperation. Then, in the spring of2020, investigative authorities had to deal with a variable such as the coronavirus pandemic, one of the consequences of which was that personal contact was minimised. However, one of the most important factors for successful and effective police cooperation are personal contacts, which can be achieved through training, meetings or even personal exchanges of views during the course of a criminal case. However, the activity of organised crime groups is ongoing, although it is fair to say that they favour cyberspace, but they have not given much thought to overcoming the obstacles that arose during the coronavirus pandemic. They have emerged in e-commerce, online marketplaces, but at the same time, they have expanded their existing network of recruiters and started to think globally. Their distribution activities and logistics have also changed. Typically, the online space can be observed for criminal activities such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking or fraud. The pandemic has also reduced the effectiveness of international cooperation on crime. In the research for this study, I am looking for answers to the question: what tools and methods of cooperation were available to the investigating authorities in the period before the pandemic and could they be further expanded? I will then contrast this period with the escalated situation during the pandemic. My research questions will include how and to what extent the coronavirus pandemic affected international criminal cooperation, in particular the use of Joint Investigation Teams. I also shed light on the question: what are the opportunities and obstacles to the use of available tools for criminal cooperation in the case of crimes committed in the online space? The threat is growing, it has more and more international aspects, so I think there is a need for deeper cooperation, not only between law enforcement agencies, but also involving the private sector and civil society. It is important to make the citizens of all countries aware of the threats they face.

Organized Crime

The face of organized crime is continually changing, yet its foundation has remained the same over many years. One of the distinguishing features of organized crime is in the challenge to clearly define it, which impacts on the implementation of transnational prevention and control policies. Although organized crime is as much disorganized as it is organized, it does feature specific characteristics. In order to understand organized crime, it must be viewed as a social process and a community social institution. Organized crime is, in its nature, highly adaptable to opportunities that major incidents, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, bring. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Battle for Housing and Mutual Witnessing

This article reflects on the dangers related to the circulation and displacement of the urban poor in Brazil, which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author describes a moment when Black women with small children asked for permission from the leadership of a local drug trafficking group to invade the empty rooms of the Nelson Mandela Occupation in downtown Rio de Janeiro, a common practice in the dispute for housing. However, suddenly there was a transformation in the logic of invasions. Rooms where single men lived became targets of dispute generating displacements between houses and cities. These practices are embedded in an intense and widespread network of mutual witness, placing questions of class, race, aging, and gender, as well as the power of criminal groups, in the same web of relationships. The author argues that local relations and mutual witnessing act in this continuum that is city-making in connection with uncertainty and opacity.

Trust Factors in the Social Figuration of Online Drug Trafficking: A Qualitative Content Analysis on a Darknet Market

The rise in illicit drug trafficking on darknet markets (DNMs) was boosted by those restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to put this trend into context by exploring the characteristics of vendors' services and reputations and understand how products are advertised and what customers tend to value. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on a sample (n = 100) randomly selected from 6,357 product descriptions and a sample (n = 500) randomly selected from 34,619 reviews. Both samples are from products found in the drug category of the darknet market Dark0de Reborn. On the supply side, vendors tended to provide basic information on the drugs, a mention of their high quality, the speed and stealth of delivery, their availability for responding to messages, the effects of the drugs, and sometimes even instructions for use. Regarding the demand side, customers usually praised the quality of the product, mentioned the speed and stealth-secure packaging of delivery as essentials, and expressed only a small number of issues. These results support the applicability of Norbert Elias' social figuration theory in which the interdependencies of the actors are fueled by trust. This theoretical frame sheds light on the social value of the community of DNMs. Furthermore, the findings formulate a robust hypothesis for future research about the previously undervalued role of delivery providers. © The Author(s) 2023.

Can the New Left Deliver Change in Latin America?

The intense Latin American electoral cycle of 2020–22 coincided with deteriorating socio-economic conditions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing frustration with the status quo. Anti-incumbent sentiment coupled with demands for more inclusive and fair economic models prompted a pronounced shift to the left in the region, although with many different shades of ‘pink'. But an increasingly polarised and fragmented political and social environment is testing the ability of new governments to deliver change, as shown by the popular rejection of a new constitution in Chile. A more limited fiscal space is also constraining these governments' effectiveness. Nevertheless, political alignment among countries with important stakes in global climate-change mitigation and thwarting drug trafficking could produce more cohesive foreign-policy stances and increased regional leverage.

"Getting After the Violence": Changing Prison Culture Through Prisoner-Driven Dialogue

The United States incarcerates more persons than any other country in the world, both at federal and state levels. Over the past 30 years, problems within the U.S. prison system-specifically, increasing violence and victimization-have presented a unique opportunity for organization development researchers and practitioners to contribute to positively changing prison culture. Driven by a call for action by Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch, this research addresses the process by which the Peacemaking in Prison Conflict Management System (PIP CMS), a participative training intervention program incorporating the use of self, has been developed and implemented. The article explains the process for teaching prisoners soft skills such as interpersonal communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution and how these skills prepare parole-eligible prisoners for life outside prison. It also reveals initial specific results of the pilot program, which was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, and opportunities for future research.

The Sahel: Challenges and opportunities

Since 2015, over 2000 people have been killed and 1.5 million displaced due to violence attributed to extremist groups in Burkina Faso. In the first half of 2021 alone, over 540 conflict-related civilian casualties were reported in Niger.9 The armed conflict has had a devastating impact on children in Niger: of the 3.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Niger, 2.1 million are children and 1.6 million children suffer from malnutrition.10 More than eighty children between the ages of 15 and 17 years living in towns on the Niger–Burkina Faso border have reportedly been recruited as child soldiers.11 Over sixty children were killed in conflict-related violence in Niger in 2021 alone.12 Chad has also witnessed its fair share of violence and intercommunal tensions. In their efforts to coerce the Sahelian people and government decision-makers for ransom or political concessions, these groups have employed various terrorist activities, including launching deadly attacks against civilians and military targets alike, attacking public and private property, kidnapping individuals, and more.18 Weak State institutions around the inter-State borders have enabled such groups to flourish in the peripheries and border towns, targeting people in multiple countries at once. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger saw over 4000 casualties of terrorist attacks in 2019;19 these attacks led, in turn, to the displacement of over half a million people.20 The growing presence of “terrorist” groups in the Sahel has also intensified organized crime and criminal networks that have served as routes for lucrative criminal activities such as drugs, arms trade, human trafficking and the kidnapping of persons for ransom.

Amphetamine and Methamphetamine Trafficking in Thailand and Suppression Measures in the COVID-19 Context

During the pandemic, Thai authorities reported large quantities of drug trafficking from Thailand to various countries by evading detection mechanisms of drug enforcement officers. This research aimed to identify the patterns of amphetamine and methamphetamine trafficking witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand and provide suggestions as to how Thailand can enhance its suppression of such activities. The research was produced through the conduct of 30 in-depth interviews with key informants, who comprised of narcotics officials, policy-makers, senior directors of the Thai Narcotics Control Board, scholars, experts and individuals having direct experience of drug addicts and former prisoners. The sample was selected through purposive sampling and snowballing technique with the aim to understand the novel and adaptive methods being used by cross-border drug traffickers to evade detection. The results revealed that the drug traffickers took advantage of the temporary respite from scrutiny given by the Thai Government and its various agencies to cope up with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the new normal emerging out of the pandemic was seen to have expanded the drug trafficking networks and operation in Thailand. The study's recommendations include establishing a central repository of intelligence, increasing legal capability through new regulations, developing professional skills of law enforcement entities, developing a greater knowledge about trafficking structures and trafficking operations, and consolidating postal and communication and public transportation services to detect the drug trafficking more efficiently. © 2021. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences. Under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). All Rights Reserved.

SPECIFIC ISSUES FACED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION. THE FIGHT AGAINST SERIOUS AND ORGANIZED CRIME

In the pandemic context generated by the epidemiological situation we face, crime has increased worldwide, criminals adapting to the environmental changes in which they operate. Thus, online criminal activities have become more widespread, especially in the area of fraud, and concrete and structured action is needed at EU level to combat all forms of organized crime. Modern technology is an essential tool in terms of serious and organized crime, facilitating systematic cooperation between criminals, in achieving the common goal, respectively the achievement of profit. Thus, it becomes much easier to access illegal tools and goods, the economic crisis generated by the pandemic giving a safe lever in this regard. The European Union is working to establish the tools and measures to be developed in the period 2020-2025, to ensure security in the physical and digital environment.

HYBRID GOVERNANCE, URBAN VIOLENCE, AND LEGITIMACY IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF THE COMANDO VERMELHO IN THE COMPLEXO DO SALGUEIRO, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

This article uses the theoretical perspective of hybrid governance to understand how Armed Illegal Groups (aig), especially those related to organized crime, control territories and populations under their authority. When it comes to Brazil, the hybrid governance framework has been used to analyze local forms of interaction between legal and illegal actors in the political and economic fields. However, analytical limitations were found in this theoretical framework when applied to the empirical case of the governance of the Comando Vermelho (cv) in the Complexo do Salgueiro since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). Through combining participant observation, original statistics, visual and cartographic features, as well as the analysis of a survey submitted electronically to inhabitants of the Complexo, the paper proposes an explanation for the omission or inaction of the cv in the face of the pandemic, in opposition to its traditional practice of assistencialism toward people under its control. © 2021, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.

Past and present in the illegal drug market in Mexico. Reflections one year after the Covid-19 pandemic

In this article the trajectory and trends of the drug market in Mexico are exposed, making reference to the historical perspective, to understand the changes and permanence in the dynamics of prices, sale and with it supply and demand of drugs. This tour allows us to understand the changes and permanence in its use and consumption, in addition to the demands of an existing illegal market, as well as the situation of the legalization of marijuana in Mexico that will mark the beginning of its commercial use for medicinal purposes;the appearance of powerful synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, synthetic opium, whose large-scale production affects Mexican farmers who produce natural opium, considered the lowest rank within the organizational structure of this illicit market;Finally, it addresses the way in which organizations dedicated to drug trafficking face the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, adapting to the possible effects and changes in this market. © 2021 Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang. All rights reserved.