L'interdiction de paiement en espèces au-delà d'une certaine somme comme moyen de prévention du blanchiment

Abstract

Nowadays, a lot of nations and international organisations fight against money laundering. And this not without a reason; it is a financial crime and its consequences are serious. According to the UNODC, the estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year ranges from 2% to 5% of global GDP. It becomes apparent that effective procedures are necessary, especially in a world that becomes more and more interconnected. In a lot of countries, including Belgium, one of these measures involves a limitation on cash payments as a preventive measure against money laundering. The reason is simple: Cash is anonymous and therefore one of the favourite tools used by the criminals to launder their “dirty” money. By analysing the concept of money laundering and the sectors susceptible to money laundering, it can be said that especially sectors in which great amounts of cash are involved represent a high risk. With a limitation on cash payments, this risk would be reduced. In Belgium, this cash limitation amounts currently to 3,000 euro with some exceptions (law of 11 January 1993). However, the law is not always clear and leaves room for interpretation, which can cause problems. In addition, there are also countries that do not apply such a limitation on cash payments. This limitation has numerous adversaries stating plausible reasons. One of these reasons includes the inefficiency of the limitation in the combat against money laundering and the damage it will cause to the national commerce. All this leads to the following question: Does this limitation on cash payments represent an intelligent and efficient method in the fight against money laundering? After weighting the pros and cons, it will be concluded that a limitation on cash payments can represent an effective measure, but that there is still room for improvement and effort that needs to be done. A harmonisation at the EU level could be among the solutions. Another effort should be the clarification of the present law which has been tackled with a recently published draft law.