Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism in Peru (2003/2006): Development and Consolidation of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Peru

Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are crimes that are much closer to the daily lives of all Peruvians than citizens imagine. Any criminal can accumulate significant sums of money or illicitly acquired assets which, at a given moment — in order not to arouse suspicion and to avoid being identified — must be hidden, disguised, or layered, concealing their origin so that they appear to be the fruits of legitimate income. Faced with this problem, the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera del Perú not only seeks to identify the individuals and criminal organizations hiding illicit money, but also those behind them — that is, organized crime represented by gangs engaged in kidnapping, smuggling, illegal drug trafficking, extortion, arms and human trafficking (including illegal immigrants), as well as terrorism, fraud, counterfeiting, and piracy, among other predicate offenses to money laundering and terrorist financing. Through this publication you will learn about the processes involved in a money laundering case, as well as the reasons underpinning the existence of financial intelligence units. They also want you to gain a closer understanding of the day-to-day work of the UIF-PERÚ.