Justice wants to use shady notaries, brokers and accountants to fight money laundering

Justice wants the Public Prosecution Service to cooperate with notaries, accountants and brokers who themselves do not take the anti-money laundering rules so closely. Minister Grapperhaus of Justice and Security wants to make it easier for criminal facilitators of fraud and money laundering to act as crown witnesses, in exchange for a reduced sentence and witness protection. The idea behind this is that it will be easier for the Public Prosecution Service to find out about the source of the criminal activity and possibly the related criminal organization. This proposal, which will be presented to the House in 2021, is part of a larger plan to combat the mixing of the upper and lower world.

Gate keeps function

Shady civil-law notaries, accountants and brokers who knowingly launder black money are seen by the judiciary as facilitators for criminals. They make it possible, among other things, that the black money flows into the upper world with impunity and is therefore laundered. Fraud and money laundering have been a headache for the judiciary for some time and they try to use notaries, accountants and real estate agents as so-called gatekeepers because of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (AMLD). The gatekeeper function was created for companies subject to the AMLD as a so-called first line of defense for the government. In case of large cash transactions and suspicious items, the gatekeepers are the first to inform higher authorities such as the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Netherlands. The higher authorities will then take it further and possibly proceed to prosecution. Of all professions with a gatekeeper position, notaries, accountants and real estate agents are the most likely to facilitate and help criminals with money laundering, for example with the purchase of real estate and the writing of suspicious cash income flows.

By expanding the crown witness regulation, Minister Grapperhaus hopes that it will become more attractive for facilitators to cooperate with the judicial authorities in exchange for protection and a reduced sentence. In the eyes of the Public Prosecution Service these facilitators are petty thieves and by working with them the Public Prosecution Service can get closer to the larger organizations. Organized drug crime is worth billions and is partly perpetuated because the black money can seep through to the upper world. The facilitators often have deep-rooted knowledge of criminal money flows and the tip money from the Public Prosecution Service is often insignificant compared to the money they receive from the underworld. That is why the judiciary is looking for another way to convince them and to cooperate with the judiciary. With the proposal to expand the crown witness regulation, the judiciary and the Public Prosecution Service hope that the links between the underworld and the upper world can still be reached.

Skeptical voices from their own trade associations

However, trade associations are skeptical about the plans of the justice system. They argue that there are few bad apples and that the Public Prosecution Service would do better to share more information. The privacy of criminals is now well protected, so that some notaries, brokers or accountants unknowingly do business with these criminals. Moreover, a reduction in the sentence is of no use because for facilitators it often takes several months and the Public Prosecution Service may remit a maximum of half the sentence for crown witnesses (art. 44a Dutch Criminal law).

How SCOPE CDD On Demand can support you in performing your gatekeeper function

In the context of obtaining information about the person or legal entity with whom the gatekeeper is conducting business, SCOPE FinTech Solutions has developed the CDD On Demand solution. The CDD On Demand solution simply performs a comprehensive background check for you, before entering into a business agreement with the relevant client. The compliance check checks the person or legal entity you entered on various points, including international and national sanction and investigation lists such as Interpol. It also checks receivership and administration registers and risk countries. You can read more about our extensive compliance check. The CDD On Demand solution also offers the possibility to use your monitor clients daily for new or additional risk factors, in this case you will receive a notification immediately. The CDD On Demand solution has been specially developed to save you time and take the time consuming customer due diligence investigation off your plate. You can try it yourself for free, you can apply for ten free credits and you can use them to perform a customer due diligence check yourself and experience the convenience of CDD On Demand for yourself.