Criminal Prosecution in Money Laundering Cases: Legal Framework and Case Law

Unatoč tendencijama hrvatskog zakonodavca za širenjem zakonskog opisa i time olakšavanjem dokazivanja pranja novca, pravna shvaćanja u sudskoj praksi i nevelik broj kaznenih postupaka upućuju na izrazito sužen doseg tog kaznenog djela. Kod zakonskih oblika koji nisu bili predmetom osuđujućih presuda u ovom se radu analizira sadržaj normativnog okvira pranja novca, povezanost s međunarodnim pravom, kao i razlozi nepokretanja postupaka ili oslobađanja okrivljenika. Zakonska obilježja pranja novca te razgraničenje od drugih kaznenih djela i nekažnjivih ponašanja analizirani su u kontekstu gospodarskog sustava kao zaštićenog pravnog dobra. Rezultati rada upućuju na to da je učinkovita kaznenopravna reakcija ipak moguća primjenom ustaljene sudske prakse za kaznena djela općenito, kao i raščlambom postojećih sudskih odluka za kazneno djelo pranja novca.Despite the tendencies of the Croatian legislator to widen the legal description and thus facilitate the proving of money laundering, legal interpretation in the case law and a small number of criminal proceedings indicate a considerably narrowed scope of this criminal offence. With regard to legal forms that have not been the subject of convictions, this paper analyses the content of the normative framework of money laundering, the connection with international law, and the reasons for not instituting proceedings or acquitting the defendant. The legal features of money laundering, as well as its differentiation from other criminal offences and unpunished actions are analysed in the context of an economic system as a protected legal value. The results of the paper indicate that an effective criminal law response is already possible by applying the established case law for criminal offences in general, as well as by analysing existing court decisions for the criminal offence of money laundering