All criminal activity, from petty racketeering and tax evasion to international terrorism and organized crime, requires money. As Secretary of State Colin Powell explained, “Money is the oxygen of terrorism.” The same is true of all major crimes. Sometimes this money is self-generated, the fruits of smuggling, extortion, bribetaking, human trafficking, fraud and other illicit schemes. On other occasions, criminal activity is funded remotely, often by individuals engaged in legitimate commerce, through one or more intermediary entities such as corporations, trusts and charities.
As recent events in Sierra Leone and the Congo demonstrate, wars of extraordinary gruesomeness and devastation have been fought over wealth and natural resources. In the case of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, furthermore, ethnic and religious hatreds were often stoked by political and business figures seeking to benefit from sustained conflict.
Black markets, trade in contraband, tax evasion and all other forms of lucrative criminal activity are closely linked with political corruption. In the absence of the rule of law, legitimate business and international investment dry up, public officials become more vulnerable to graft, mafia and other criminal organizations acquire influence in political circles, and government interests begin to reflect less the needs of the citizenry and more the ambitions of gangsters, human traffickers, narcotics traders, military thugs and génocidaires.
The financial networks supporting corruption and crime function because they are hidden from public view. An investigation that succeeds in shining the light of day on these complex webs can have a powerful impact on public opinion and greatly accelerate the pace of reform and prosecution.
This primer on money-trail investigations published by Coalition for International Justice in February 2004 woul be excellent tool for the investigative journalists.