National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

Professionals’ right of non-disclosure also gives criminals the opportunity to use
professionals to their advantage in order to conceal the results of their criminal
actions. The third-party accounts that some professionals have at their disposal
by operation of law are a good example. These accounts are used for client’s
financial transactions, which thereby fall under the right of non-disclosure.
Professionals can be obliged to disclose transactions performed via third-party
accounts, but only in highly exceptional cases. In practice, enforcement agencies
almost always decide against the difficult procedure to obtain information about
transactions via these accounts. This makes investigations into criminal cash
flows that run via a third-party account almost impossible.
Because of the introduction of market forces into the independent professions
the service providers in question are also forced to compete with their fellow
professionals. As a result of this competition, service providers who are not as
successful at operating on a free market may run into financial problems after a
while, and it speaks for itself that financial problems can make a service provider
vulnerable to criminal influences.
Legislation
As a whole, the laws and regulations in the Netherlands include various
possibilities for designing legal financial constructions that can also be used to
conceal or siphon off unlawfully obtained funds. It is therefore difficult for law
enforcement officials to separate the legal from the illegal. The ‘legally permitted
lack of transparency’ makes it possible to launder large sums of money without
being noticed, which means that this lack of transparency can be considered
a factor that promotes crime.
Factors that limit crime
Effective legislation
The entry into force of the Public Administration (Probity Screening) Act has
provided municipalities with an instrument to block the exploitation of property
and businesses that require a permit, on the basis of indications that the
applicant is involved in criminal activities. This creates a barrier against criminal
activities, and this can be a relatively effective weapon in the hands of the
authorities. Its effectiveness can be illustrated, for example, by displacement
effects, whereby criminal investments occur less regularly in municipalities where
the Act is used effectively. Criminals focus their attention more on municipalities
where the Act is not (yet) being used effectively. They also shift their attention
abroad. In addition, the Disclosure of Unusual Transactions Act and the
Identification (Provision of Services) Act may have a limiting effect on the role
of the Netherlands as an international transit country for criminal proceeds.
138 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime