Peculiarities of Initiating Criminal Proceedings in Cases Related to Money Laundering Cases

The purpose of this article is to analyze certain peculiarities related to the initiation of criminal proceedings in money laundering cases. The article examines such issues as the legal necessity for, and possible legal consequences of, the Financial Monitoring Center (hereinafter also referred to as the FMC) of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia sending a notification to a public participant in the proceedings, as well as the necessity of initiating new criminal proceedings in relation to the criminal offense of money laundering where criminal proceedings have already been initiated in relation to the predicate offense preceding the money laundering. Relevant research has been conducted with respect to these issues, on the basis of which practical proposals are presented. Emphasizing the role of the FMC in combating money laundering, the article aims to prevent, as far as possible, the circumvention of statutory requirements by public participants in the proceedings within the framework of legal relations arising from the exercise of the FMC’s powers. In addition, it is important to ensure the implementation of the principle of legal certainty and the realization of a legitimate public purpose within these legal relations. The article also puts forward practical proposals aimed at achieving these objectives. The research conducted for this article has identified legislative gaps and resulted in proposals aimed at addressing them. In addition, the article seeks to reiterate the necessity of initiating new criminal proceedings in money laundering cases where the grounds and conditions for initiating criminal proceedings exist. To this end, the article puts forward proposals whose adoption would contribute to addressing legislative gaps concerning the initiation of criminal proceedings in money laundering cases. The approaches presented in the article may be of interest to legal professionals involved in legislative drafting, as well as to law enforcement officers and judges.