The criminal law approach taken here provides for the illegality of money laundering to be included in that of the predicate offence. Consequently, when it is advantageous for the perpetrators, skilful trial defence based on false confessions of participation in the predicate crime allows defendants to escape conviction for money laundering.
The IMF has suggested reconsidering this choice, citing the good results attained by laws against “self-laundering”, i.e. money laundering by the perpetrator of the predicate crime that originates the illegal acquisition of financial resources.