From 2025, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) will focus on tackling payment service providers and trust offices who are operating illicitly. This type of facility presents an increased risk of money laundering. Those carrying out activities without the required licence will be liable not only under administrative law but also under criminal law, DNB warns.
Read MoreBij beschikking van 17 juli 2024 verklaarde het Hof van Justitie van de Europese Unie (HvJ of het Hof) de penitentiaire kamer van het Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden (hierna: het Gerechtshof A-L) niet-ontvankelijk in zijn verzoek om een prejudiciële beslissing.3 Het verzoek betrof de uitleg van verscheidene Unierechtelijke bepalingen in de sfeer van de tenuitvoerlegging van buitenlandse strafvonnissen in Nederland – bepalingen die middels de Wet wederzijdse erkenning en tenuitvoerlegging vrijheidsbenemende en voorwaardelijke sancties (WETS) in de Nederlandse rechtsorde zijn geïmplementeerd.
Read MoreIn geval van een faillissement is de opbrengst van de boedelverkoop vaak te laag om de curator van te betalen. Dat is onwenselijk. Daarbij is bij dit soort zaken ook met enige regelmaat sprake van fraude of onregelmatigheden. Curatoren beschikken dan ook niet over de financiële middelen om dit te onderzoeken of aan te pakken, waardoor de fraudeurs vrijuit gaan. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van de Universiteit Leiden en SEO Economisch Onderzoek, in opdracht van het WODC.
Read MoreEnvironmental crime includes wildlife crimes, illegal waste dumping, substance smuggling, and illegal mining. These types of crime lead to habitat loss and species extinction, contribute to global warming, destabilise communities and economies, undermine security and development, and foster corruption. Often transnational in nature, environmental crime has become a lucrative industry for organised crime, which is underpinned by Europol research that has identified numerous criminal networks operating within the EU specializing in waste, pollution, and wildlife crimes. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data, which hampers evaluation and monitoring of measures by policymakers and practitioners. Limited awareness and scarce resource allocation for combating environmental crime is an overarching problem.
The Environmental Crime Directive adopted in 2008 aimed to address some of these issues, but the European Commission’s evaluation found that it did not have much effect in practice. In April 2024, a revised directive was adopted. It introduces several new offences, defines concrete types and levels of penalties, and emphasizes resource allocation, cooperation, awareness, and support for environmental defenders. This article describes some of the novelties of the Environmental Crime Directive and provides food for thought regarding the challenges in implementing the directive.
Read MoreOver the coming years, new tools based on large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence-based software are set to play an increasing role in many modern administrations, including in the anti-fraud domain. One might even argue that the prevention, detection, and investigation of fraud and associated illegal activities, which today involve processing and analysing an ever-growing volume of data of different types, are uniquely suited to the strengths of such tools. The authors of this article share some reflections on two particular challenges that authorities, which seek to harvest the potential of artificial intelligence for anti-fraud purposes, have to come to terms with: first, how to leverage the strength of artificial intelligence tools by identifying suitable use cases for the specific anti-fraud domain? Second, how to navigate the emerging regulatory framework considering in particular that the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act has entered into force on 1 August 2024?
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