Criminal Compliance and Sanctions of Terrorist Financing in Hungary

Abstract

As a direct result of the post 9/11 period and the war on terror preventing terrorist financing had been recognized as a main objective to be achieved by cutting violent extremists off from to have access to financial institution and from the ability to transfer money. Preventing terrorist financing is a unique objective as part of which standards and regulations are indispensable. Hungarian legal system had paid attention to the challenge from the beginning and ordered both terrorist financing and the failure to comply with the reporting obligation related to combating terrorist financing to be punishable. Combating the financing of terrorism is handled together with the fight against money laundering even if any action against the former seems to be secondary and less effective compared to the latter. Even with improvements in compliance, legislation on combating terrorist financing may remain less effective due to practical considerations and due to its clear difference based on a comparison of money laundering with terrorist financing. The presentation would give an overview of the criminal law level of terrorist financing and the failure to comply with obligations to the audience.