Check the weather before you hang the laundry! Accounting Turkish progress in anti-money laundering mechanisms

This paper examines the anti-money laundering (AML) legislation in Turkey and the European Union (EU). Given the fact that Turkey is officially a candidate country for the EU membership, harmonisation of Turkish and the EU AML frameworks has become increasingly important. These AML laws pose important responsibilities for the financial sector. Accordingly, the role of accountants both at global and regional level against money laundering has a great significance. We compare and evaluate specific AML provisions pertaining to obligations of Turkish accountants with those in the EU. In order to facilitate the evaluation process, the AML regimes examined are compared in regards to various aspects such as criminalization of money laundering, recording and reporting obligations for accountants, enforcement and sanctions mechanisms. While we have found that each national regime has adopted a unique AML framework, minimum standards provided by international (e.g. the Financial Action Task Force) and regional (e.g. EU) instruments have been the main driving force behind all national laws. While we have made some feasible recommendations for reform, based on our analysis, we have concluded that a comprehensive evaluation of the success of the Turkish AML regime is difficult to determine as there are no cases studies (e.g. prosecutions, convictions, etc.) and this will require further research.