State department reports little progress in global laundering effort

Nikolas Korba reports from the US on two recent American initiatives in its ongoing battle against money laundering

T he billion dollar battle against money laundering waged by governments around the world during 1999, which involved the passage of several new laundering control laws and aggressive initiatives by various multinational groups, has had little impact on the global flow of illicit proceeds. That is the picture that emerges from the 2000 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, a US State Department publication released last month that presents that agency’s read on the status of global laundering controls.