India: The Misuse and Abuse of Legal Provisions in Money Laundering

Billions of dollars of black money moves through the world's financial institutions as part of a confluence of grey money, as bankers call it. Most of this is profits generated from criminal enterprises — organised crime, economic crime, drug trafficking and terrorism. This dubious laundered cash amounts to an estimated $1tn or more each year. According to British Intelligence estimates, some $500bn may have been laundered worldwide last year. Perhaps half of that may have come from the illegal trade in drugs, the rest from other forms of organised crime and terrorism.