How Corruption Money Is Laundered

Money laundering is the process of making legal, money that was illegally obtained. Under certain circumstances the morally grey (eg. politicians, government officials, corporate employees, lawyers, judges etc) can launder their illegal cash gains if the money passes through a legitimate business.

(The cartoons are courtesy of www.clipartguide.com).

(1) The morally grey person and the gift bearer agree on the deal.

(2) The cash paid by the gift bearer is funneled through the bank account of the morally grey person's rookie to avoid direct association.

(3) The rookie withdraws the cash and funnels it through a legitimate cash-based business owned by the morally grey person. This could be a restaurant, pub, disco, supermarket – preferably a business that provides services rather than products since it is harder to collate information on services for evidence. The company should have a constant flow of business and cash so that when the tainted money flows through it would appear as if it is part of daily transactions. (For large amounts the rookie may have to push the money through in stages.)

(4) As the owner of the business the morally grey person can legitimately withdraw the money from his company as dividends after paying tax on it and places it in his bank account.

(5) Once all the documentation are in place to make the money look legal, the morally grey person can then withdraw it and spend it openly since it is all "accounted" for.