James A. Leach: “The Money Laundering Deterrence Act of 1998 is intended to strengthen the hand of Federal law enforcement in detecting…”

“The Money Laundering Deterrence Act of 1998 is intended to strengthen the hand of Federal law enforcement in detecting and prosecuting financial crimes, and to encourage greater reporting of suspicious monetary transactions by financial institutions and their agents. It is estimated that upwards of $500 billion in laundered funds, a large portion of it derived from narcotics trafficking, is cycled through the United States financial system on an annual basis. Any meaningful strategy for combating the international drug trade and other global criminal enterprises must include strong legal mechanisms for detecting the flows of their illicit proceeds. Left unchecked, money laundering has a devastating effect on the integrity of financial institutions and, because it is the lifeblood of drug traffickers, on the social fabric as well. Beginning with the passage of the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services has been at the forefront of legislative efforts to erect a system of financial reporting and recordkeeping designed to give law enforcement authorities sufficient tools to detect and prosecute money laundering offenses.”