Money laundering and financial crime in selected EU Accession countries in central and south east Europe during the transition from pre to post Communist era and the role of the central bank : with special reference to the issues of compliance with the EU acquis

The sudden and cataclysmic collapse and dismemberment of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact bloc occurred in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. Partly as a result of this, the European Union is enlarging with some of the central and south-eastern European states aspiring to be Member States as quickly as possible. This thesis deals with three such Accession states, Hungary Romania and Croatia. Their progress towards full EU membership forms the backcloth. The same period witnessed an increase in global organised crime. This resulted in a concomitant increase in global scale money laundering, to the extent that the sudden injection of circulating criminal capital constitutes a threat of imbalance and destabilization of regional economies. Anti money laundering responses accordingly intensified at national and international level. The European Union directed uniform minimum standards of money laundering compliance for financial institutions. These standards are essential criteria for EU entry by the Accession states. During the last two decades studies have proliferated regarding central banks. However, these have either dealt with the economic role within the national economy, or the political dimension regarding issues of central bank independence and freedom of initiative in economic policies. This thesis is submitted as affording principal added value in the criminal dimension regarding the role of central banks in anti money laundering. The thesis examines and assesses the role of the central bank in anti money laundering in a core group of central and south eastern European countries, Hungary, Romania and Croatia, when these countries are part of the ongoing EU enlargement process during the same period of increasing global money laundering.