Suspicions of money laundering (Section 400 of the Criminal Code) appear more and more often in the suspicions brought before the investigative authorities in relation to minor crimes against property as well, even in cases where, according to the suspicion, “on the basis of the circumstances” it should have been obvious to the perpetrator that the property derives from a crime.
Criminal Code effective from January 1, 2021.
whoever hides, transforms, transfers, participates in the alienation of assets resulting from a punishable act committed by another person, uses them, carries out financial activities in connection therewith, uses or disposes of financial services and negligently unaware of the origin of the assets, is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years for a misdemeanor .
Negligence refers to the origin of the property, i.e. due to a lack of due diligence, when the perpetrator is not aware that the property (e.g. car, bicycle, sum of money) resulted from crime, but the criminal act (e.g. purchase, resale) should however, be committed deliberately in order to commit negligent money laundering.
It is possible to commit negligent money laundering if the perpetrator has not ascertained whether the perpetrator of the basic crime (theft, embezzlement, fraud, misappropriation) can legally dispose of the given property, therefore one can be held criminally liable for negligent money laundering even in cases where, according to the previous regulations in the absence of intentionality criminal offence did not occur.
