The Fight against Money Laundering in Mauritania

Jurisprudence has considered money laundering as one aspect of financial crime. The term money laundering refers to transforming illegally obtained funds into seemingly legitimate ones, and the eradication of any evidence or trace of wrong doing. Thus, money laundering aims at investing the criminal proceeds of such activities as illegal speculation, mafia activities, drug and weapon trafficking, extortion, corruption, etc. in legitimate transactions. In other words, the origin of the profits involved in money laundering is a criminal activity that needs to be hidden. The Mauritanian legislation adopted the Law No. 2005-048 of July 27, 2005 in order to put a lawful, preventive, and deterrent framework to money laundering. This is reflected in the establishment of a set of measures aimed at the creation of specialized structures for the fight against money laundering and the adoption of a legal mechanism to ensure the success of such a struggle. The measures taken by the Mauritanian legislation include strict conditions for access to financial sector activities; professional secrecy does not protect the perpetrators of crime. However, the implementation of this framework is conditioned by the degree of consideration and attention the courts give upon its applicatio