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Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) wants to fight organized crime even more intensively
Photo:
Janine Schmitz / photothek.de / imago images / photothek
The Bundestag has fundamentally revised the criminal offense of money laundering in order to be able to bring the perpetrators to justice more easily.
With the reform, which was passed on Thursday evening, the concealment of criminal profits is in principle punishable - regardless of the crime through which the property in question was acquired.
Up to now, money laundering could only be prosecuted if it originated from specific criminal offenses such as drug trafficking, human trafficking or extortion.
"With the newly drafted money laundering offense, we are fighting organized crime even more intensively and drying up illegal flows of money," said Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
The opposition, however, criticized the law across all party lines as constitutionally problematic and largely ineffective.
"An enforcement deficit is inevitable," warned Friedrich Straetmanns from the Left.
The unlimited expansion of the so-called predicate offenses will lead to a considerable overburdening of the authorities.
One speaks of money laundering when illegally acquired money is introduced into the legal economic cycle in order to conceal its origin.
The fact that the offense was previously linked to certain "predicate offenses", which are often difficult to prove, has so far blocked the prosecution of the perpetrators in many cases.
However, the reform does not change anything in terms of punishment: the perpetrators continue to face up to five years in prison.
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svv / dpa