Money Laundering Has Gone Corporate

Legal and financial expertise plays a central role. These schemes are not built to break the law outright, but to operate just beyond its reach. Regulatory gaps are exploited, compliance boxes are checked, and wrongdoing exists in practice while remaining difficult to prosecute under narrow legal definitions.

This is not the work of one bad actor. It requires a system: someone to propose the arrangement, others to approve it, justify it, sign it, and those who choose not to ask questions. When silence becomes part of the process, institutions meant to serve the public interest can quietly transform into vehicles for organized financial misconduct.

The irony is striking. Some of these same entities publicly promote transparency, host anti-corruption events, or align themselves with reform initiatives. Behind the scenes, however, they absorb expert knowledge to refine their own methods of evasion. Media and public relations complete the picture, polishing an image that appears credible and untouchable.

Money does not disappear by accident. It moves because systems allow it to move, because oversight is weakened, and because accountability is avoided. When money laundering begins to look legitimate—wrapped in contracts, procedures, and professional language—the problem is no longer purely criminal. It becomes institutional. And that is precisely what makes modern money laundering so difficult to confront, and so dangerous to ignore.

(Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune and the President of the Arab-African Unity Organisation for Relief, Human Rights and Counterterrorism)