\"\"

Anti-money laundering laws don't just apply to the financial proceeds of crime; the laws apply equally to any property that is generated through criminal behaviour, including illegally felled timber.

As Professor Lasslett explains below, this means that just like the logging companies involved in illegal logging and the financial institutions that support them, public forestry officials may be prosecuted for breaching anti-money laundering laws.

Forestry officials who knowingly disguise illegal logging operations by issuing fraudulent logging licences or failing to take action when legitimate licences are abused may be guilty of hiding the proceeds of crime as well as more traditional criminal offences.

The police therefore have a critical role to play in supporting the work of financial intelligence agencies to ensure that public officials are held to account for widespread illegal logging.

The Laundering of Tropical Timber on International Markets: Time to Investigate the Role of Forestry Officials

Professor Kristian Lasslett

Anti-money laundering (AML