Brottsofferintressen vid penningtvättsbrott

Sammanfattning: The present thesis discusses how the interests of victims are considered through relevant legislation pertaining to cases of money laundering crimes. The discussion is limited to cases where the victim's bank deposit was obtained through fraud. The relevance of the topic is that the legislator, when passing the Swedish money laundering crime act, “Lagen (2014:307) om straff för penningtvättsbrott”, in 2014, did not consider the possibility that a victim could suffer pure economic loss or be considered to have ownership to property as a result of a money laundering crime. This is despite the fact that the right to protection of property is stated as an interest under this act. In order to ascertain the interests of crime victims and relevant legislation, I have chosen to proceed from a crime victim perspective. This theoretical perspective has since permeated the remaining thesis/presentation. Through a legal investigation, I have affirmed the applicable law. The applicable law has been interpreted based on law, principles, legislative history, precedents and legal doctrine. In cases where the legal regulation has been unclear, I have also considered a decision from the Chancellor of Justice and a handbook on money laundering crime from the Swedish Prosecution Authority. The conclusions that are drawn from the thesis' enquiry are that many of the victims' interests can be utilized through the applicable law. When the Swedish money laundering crimes act was introduced, it was not taken into consideration that crime victims could have claims in cases of money laundering. There has since been a legal development where the Swedish Supreme Court has ruled, among other things, that there can be victims in cases of money laundering and that these victims have the right to make claims in court. Still, clarification is needed regarding several significant aspects of the money laundering crime act regarding the interests of crime victims, and there are several measures that can be taken to amend the current legislation to better satisfy victims’ interests.