INTRODUCTION

The tremendous amounts of illicit profits generated encourage the criminals involved to discover innovative methods of controlling their ill-gotten funds without jeopardizing their underlying activity or identity. They do this by disguising the sources of the funds, changing their form, or moving them to a place where they are less likely to attract attention.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that criminal proceeds amounted to an estimate of 3.6% of the global GDP in 2009, with around 2.7% (or USD 1.6 trillion) laundered throughout that year . Although it is impossible to calculate with certainty the amount of money that is globally laundered every year due to the illegal nature of the whole process, other studies have estimated that the overall value of criminal proceeds being laundered each year amounts to USD 3 trillion.