The director of Iskele Construction Ltd., Ahmet Aydoğan, was found guilty of money laundering by the Nicosia Heavy Penal Court yesterday, Kibris Postasi reports.
The judging panel unanimously agreed that Aydoğan was guilty of money laundering after he constructed a block of 12 flats using money gained from illegal activities.
Presiding Judge Fadıl Aksun who read the verdict, stated that, according to the facts before him, British citizen Paul Stuart Chant, who is one of the directors of the company, was also implicated in the crime of money laundering.
Judge Aksun went on to say: “Laundering of Proceeds of Crime is regulated by the law numbered 4/08 in our country and the regulations here are in parallel with the ones in the world. In general, black money is defined as money, goods or values obtained as a result of illegal activities. In the world and unfortunately in the TRNC, large amounts of income are generated illegally. The source of these incomes is mostly drugs, arms smuggling, explosives, women and children trafficking.
“ According to the European Council Directive 91/308/EEC, black money is defined as; black money, ‘All kinds of income from activities related to drugs and participation in these activities.’ Illegal and especially serious crimes constitute the source of black money, and drug trafficking is at the forefront of these crimes”.
He went on to say, “Since the revenues from criminal activities are generally cash, they cannot be used freely and in a short time. For this reason, criminals who want to use this income want to add the money to the economic circulation; This activity is defined as money laundering”.
