1st Edition
Unexplained Wealth and Financial Crime A Global Perspective
This book considers the growing and emerging issue of unexplained wealth and how this issue fits within the larger challenge of financial and economic crime. The collection provides a rich and robust contribution to the dearth of knowledge in this space. Contributions are drawn from legal practitioners, academics, and experts from the Global South, Global North, and the Asia- Pacific region, who share their insights into the methods and approaches that have been utilised to tackle unexplained wealth in their respective countries. Each author provides a comprehensive critique of the current regime in addressing the issue and identifies failings. The volume further considers how unexplained wealth can be recognised as an important category, similar in this respect to fraud, bribery, corruption, and tax evasion amongst others. Establishing the issue of unexplained wealth as an independent area of research, the book will be essential reading for researchers, academics, and policymakers working in the areas of financial and economic crime, banking law, and international corporate governance.
1. Introduction
Dr Folashade Adeyemo and Professor Nicholas Ryder
2.Three Models of Unexplained Wealth Orders
Anton Moiseienko
3. Unrealised Potential? Unexplained Wealth Orders, Money Laundering, and the UK Real Estate
Market
Ilaria Zavoli
4. Behind the Digital Curtain: To What Extent Can Cryptocurrency Conceal Unexplained Wealth
Thomas Burgess
5. Public Procurement and Unexplained Wealth in Nigeria: An Ecosystem Approach
Benjamin Mukoro and Ndubuisi Augustine Nwafor
6. The Primary Factors Contributing to the Operational Failures of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Strategic Reforms that can be Implemented to Enhance its Effectiveness in Dealing with Financial Crimes
Sengul Selcan Tufan
7. Unexplained Wealth and Asset Recovery: Assessing the Kuwaiti Legal Framework
Aminah Alwehaib
8. Tax Havens: Their Uses, Misuses, and Decades of Political Inaction
Stelios Andreadakis and Theo Nyreröd
9. Unexplained Wealth – A Global Perspective: Following the Money – Corruption Trends in East
Africa
Mercy W. Buku
10. Implementation of Unexplained Wealth Order in Nigeria: Challenges
Chinelo Bob-Osamor
Biography
Folashade Adeyemo is Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law at the University of Liverpool, UK. Fola is a leading academic in the commercial law space, and her areas of interest are in banking and financial regulation (focusing largely on the Global South region) and whistle-blower protection (focusing on both the Global South and the Global North). Fola has also published in the area of financial crime.
Nicholas Ryder is Professor of Financial Crime at the University of Cardiff, UK. He has conducted policy-oriented research in financial crime and has played advisory roles both nationally and internationally. He has published extensively in the area of financial crime.
“This timely book offers a compelling exploration of unexplained wealth as a rising concern in financial crime. Drawing on global expertise, it delivers critical insights into legal frameworks and policy responses. A must-read for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to understand and address this important, emerging and under-researched issue.”
—Umut Turksen, Professor, University of Exeter, UK.
“Unexplained wealth orders are a vitally important tool in combating economic crime, but have been subject to only limited research. This edited collection brings together some of the world's leading experts on this subject. It covers a wide range of important subjects such as property, cryptocurrencies and public procurement among others. Critically it explores the subject from a global perspective with chapters focused upon countries in Africa, the Middle East and the UK. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners working in this area.”
— Mark Button, Professor, University of Portsmouth, UK
“Unexplained wealth measures serve as a complement, or often an alternative, to traditional criminal law tools, especially thanks to the reversal of the burden of proof. This volume offers an increasingly relevant global perspective, tracing their legal evolution and practical function across jurisdictions.”
— Enrico Basile, Bocconi University, Milano, Italy
"An excellent contribution to our still limited understanding of unexplained wealth within the context of economic crime, this volume integrates diverse international perspectives into a timely and multidisciplinary evidence base that can inform the work of policymakers and law enforcement across different jurisdictions.
— Lorenzo Pasculli, University College London (UCL), UK
