Oskyldig penninghantering? - En undersökning av oskyldighetspresumtionens beaktande vid tillämpning av rekvisitet härrör från brottslig verksamhet i penningtvättsbrottmål

Sammanfattning: Money laundry threatens the integrity of the financial system and should therefore be subject to efficient criminalization. In 2014, a new law on money laundering offenses came into force in Sweden. Alongside the new law a new prerequisite, ”derived from criminal activity”, was introduced. The prerequisite occurs in most money laundry crimes in Swedish legislation and has the function of establishing the predicate offense for money laundering. The Supreme Court has so far not given any guidance in case law about the application of the prerequisite. Since the prerequisite in question is vague the purpose of this thesis is to empirically investigate how lower courts apply the prerequisite in relation to the presumption of innocence. The thesis will show that the presumption of innocence consists of several aspects: the burden of proof rule; in dubio pro reo; the demand for a high evidentiary requirement; the defendant's right to silence; and an impartial tribunal. Furthermore, the presumption of innocence, as a legal principle, and more specifically the aspects of the presumption is always weighed against the possibility of convicting criminals. This means that the presumption of innocence is rather taken into consideration in varying degree than being either fulfilled or not. It is concluded that the lower courts' apply the prerequisite inconsistently and that the presumption of innocence, as a consequence, is considered to a varying degree. As a proposal to remedy this unsatisfactory application by the courts, the thesis presents an alternative examination procedure regarding the fulfillment of the evidentiary requirement of the prerequisite. This proposal will hopefully ensure that the presumption of innocence is considered to a greater extent and thus lead to a more uniform application of the law.