Online Money-Laundering :A study in Jordanian Legislation

Abstract

This study addresses the topic of money laundering through e-commerce in Jordanian legislation, aiming to address its problematic nature, characterized by the inadequacy of the Jordanian legislative framework in addressing money laundering operations and activities conducted through e-commerce platforms. The study employs an analytical-descriptive legal method, presenting and analyzing relevant Jordanian legal texts, following the identification of the operations and activities utilized by criminals and money launderers to launder money through e-commerce platforms.

The results showed that the Jordanian legislative framework contains loopholes that money launderers can exploit to launder money through this e-commerce platform. These loopholes include the absence of supervision over establishing e-commerce platforms on social media sites and the legislative allowance for conducting incidental commercial activities online. Additionally, most commercial activities and the e-commerce platform are not included within the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law provisions. Furthermore, it was revealed that the provisions of this law are not suitable for addressing the manual cash delivery process of illicit funds between the original criminal and the money launderer or between the money launderer and the "seller" who owns the e-commerce store.

The study lists the following recommendations: enforcing supervision over establishing e-commerce platforms, particularly on social media sites. It is essential to include all types of e-commerce platforms within the entities subject to the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law. Additionally, there is a need to enforce post-entry financial monitoring on individuals leaving Jordan after prior scrutiny upon their entry. This includes implementing control measures on electronic funds held by individuals entering or leaving Jordan.