DIRTY BUSINESS

MONEY LAUNDERING IS DESCRIBED as the processing of criminal

An estimated $3 billion per year is laundered in Australia. This coincides with a drug trade which is purported to have an annual turnover of $3-5 billion, making money laundering big business.

"Money laundering is an insidious problem," says David Van Homrigh, the national partner in charge of forensic practice at KPMG Australia. "There is tax evasion, there is a major cost to society and you can see it bringS some countries to a point of collapse. It is criminal activity."

In December last year, the Federal Government announced that Australia is on the verge of implementing global standards aimed at cracking down on money laundering and terrorist financing. A revised set of 40 recommendations has been established by the Financial Actions Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), a 33-member international body of which Australia is a founding member. FATF's role is to set international standards and develop and promote policies to stop these illegal financial practices.