Money Laundering and the Criminal Court Order Amendment

Criminal law aspects of the issue of money laundering were dealt with in the Czech Republic in the Criminal Code amendment No.557/1991 Coll., effective as of January 1, 1992. Criminal Code § 251 was supplemented by § 25la, the provision of which deals with other forms of participation meant to legalize material profits coming from drug trafficking or any other serious crime.

Procedural aspects were dealt with by the Criminal Court order amendment No.292/1993 Coll., supplementing the Act No.l41/1961 Coll., Act No.21/1992 Coll., On Banks and the Act No.335/1991 Coll., On Courts and Judges. According to the provision of the Criminal Court Order § 8 par. 2 the information otherwise subject to bank secrecy, in the proceedings on the crime of tax evasion or any similar crime also the information obtained in tax proceedings, may be required in the preliminary proceedings by the state attorney with the consent of the judge, in the proceedings before the court such information may be required by the chairman of the senate.

It is considered to be necessary to supplement the provision of the Criminal Code § 251a by the qua1ified forms of disguising and revealing the origin of a thing and make the punishment therefor more severe. Furthermore it is recomended to enable to breacch bank and tax secrecy even befor the beginning of a proceeding.