Clean Money, Suspect Source: Turning Organised Crime Against Itself

This research paper examines the legal and institutional framework for combating money-laundering and organised crime in South Africa. It details the three-stage process of money-laundering, the existing statutory tools for asset recovery, and the gaps in administrative controls, specifically the need for a financial intelligence unit to meet international standards.

• Money-laundering is defined as a process used to hide the origin of criminal proceeds to avoid detection and enable the reinvestment of profits into further criminal activities. This process consists of three distinct stages: placement (entering the financial system), layering (conducting numerous transactions), and integration (returning the recycled proceeds to the criminal).
• South Africa possesses a comprehensive set of money-laundering offences under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act of 1998, including the failure to report suspicions and the possession of unlawful proceeds. The country's asset recovery model is described as advanced, utilizing both conviction-based confiscation and civil forfeiture procedures that do not require a conviction.

APA

Smit, P. (n.d.). Clean Money, Suspect Source: Turning Organised Crime Against Itself. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-51-clean-money-suspect-source-turning-organised-crime-against-itself-by-pieter-smit

Chicago

Smit, Pieter. Clean Money, Suspect Source: Turning Organised Crime Against Itself. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-51-clean-money-suspect-source-turning-organised-crime-against-itself-by-pieter-smit.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Smit |first1=Pieter |title=Clean Money, Suspect Source: Turning Organised Crime Against Itself |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-51-clean-money-suspect-source-turning-organised-crime-against-itself-by-pieter-smit |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{smitndclean, author = {Smit, Pieter}, title = {{Clean Money, Suspect Source: Turning Organised Crime Against Itself}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-51-clean-money-suspect-source-turning-organised-crime-against-itself-by-pieter-smit}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }