Money, in and of itself, is neither clean nor dirty, neither an end nor a goal. It is the backbone and lifeline of human life, essential for managing people’s affairs and aspirations. It only finds its utility within a social structure where individuals exchange goods and services. This interdependence gives the economy, despite its rigid mathematical laws, a significant psychological margin and an undeniable moral dimension.
Just as money can be a tool for building civilizations, it can also serve as a hidden wrecking force when used in illicit activities punishable by law.
An individual may become involved in a financial crime without realizing the full scope of their actions, particularly if they lack adequate knowledge of financial laws or fail to verify the source of funds or the nature of the transactions in which they are engaged.
The Sunday Times revealed in an article titled The Kinahan Cartel Hired Me to Launder £200 Million that roles in such schemes are distributed between experts and ordinary individuals who often only realize the true nature of their involvement when it’s too late. Organized crime has grown increasingly adept at concealing itself behind legitimate-looking fronts in complex, intertwined environments.
The article tells the story of a financial expert based in Bangkok, known as Opel, who disclosed his involvement in a money laundering operation for the Kinahan crime cartel—one of the most dangerous organized crime groups in the world, with an estimated fortune of £1 billion and a record of at least 20 murders.
Initially unaware of his clients’ criminal affiliations, Opel’s role was to design banking strategies that would facilitate the laundering of illicit funds through investments in high-value sectors, such as fine art, luxury wine, and cryptocurrencies.
The Kinahan cartel, led by Christy Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher, expanded from Dublin into cocaine trafficking, arms dealing, cybercrime, and extortion, and has collaborated with Mexican cartels, extremist groups, and intelligence agencies.
They are now fugitives, pursued by U.S. and European authorities after fleeing Dubai following the imposition of strict sanctions.
Opel began to question the legitimacy of his clients after learning of the American sanctions, even though the German or Austrian middleman who recruited him—someone he had known for two decades—never hid his ties to “Europe’s biggest drug lords.”
The intermediary flaunted multimillion-euro watches and shuttled between Asia and Europe, pitching investments in high-end artworks by artists like Banksy and Yayoi Kusama.
The laundering plan relied on creating a chain of bank accounts in tax havens to move money from Hong Kong across borders while evading the attention of regulators.
With expertise in finance and private aviation, Opel communicated directly with the cartel’s accountant in Hong Kong. He recorded his conversations with the middleman for self-protection and released them when he realized he wouldn’t be paid the commission he was promised—an act of retaliation.
These recordings revealed the cartel’s ties to high-profile individuals like boxer Tyson Fury and its use of massive investment funds managing billions of dollars.
This case exemplifies how gaps in financial systems are exploited for laundering money. Despite tightened oversight and updated legislation, authorities continue to face growing challenges.
Money laundering is no longer a secretive, isolated act—it has become an integral part of a global financial network that exploits legal and banking loopholes and penetrates multiple sectors, making it increasingly difficult to trace.
Legal Definition
Money laundering is considered a criminal act punishable by law in most countries. It refers to the use of legitimate commercial activities—whether fictitious or real—as a means to justify the possession of funds obtained from criminal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, bribery, terrorism, or other acts criminalized by law.
According to the Qatari Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s website, money laundering is defined as “the process by which the origin of illicit funds or those used for illegal purposes is concealed and made to appear as legitimate funds accepted in various public activities, thereby severing the connection between the funds and their illegal source.”
The website further explains that it is “a process of disguising the origin of criminal proceeds, enabling criminals and their associates to use them without drawing the attention of law enforcement agencies or financial institutions.”
The Ministry adds that the money laundering process usually unfolds in three consecutive stages, all aimed at concealing the illegal origins of the funds and making them appear as legitimate earnings.
The process begins by placing illicit funds into the financial system, often through depositing them into financial institutions or by purchasing high-value assets, such as real estate or vehicles. Criminals typically use techniques such as breaking up large sums into smaller amounts and depositing them at different times and in different branches to avoid suspicion.
The Ministry notes that criminal proceeds are not always in cash form. They can include profits, interest, or properties generated from those funds, and may even take the form of digital currencies like Bitcoin.
Once the funds enter legitimate financial channels, the layering stage begins, involving a series of complex financial transactions designed to obscure the link between the money and its illicit source. These may include multiple bank transfers, the use of negotiable financial instruments, the creation of accounts in jurisdictions with bank secrecy, or fictitious commercial transactions and fake invoices to disguise the origin of the funds.
In the final stage, the laundered funds are integrated into the formal economy, giving them the appearance of legitimate earnings from lawful activities.
This may involve paying fake invoices, purchasing shell or real companies at inflated prices, executing repeated sales transactions, or obtaining fake loans—all intended to provide a legal cover for the illicit funds and make their origin difficult to trace.
The State of Qatar has introduced a precise legal definition of money laundering in its efforts to combat financial crimes, as outlined in Article (2) of Law No. 20 of 2019 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. This was done to close loopholes exploited by criminal networks and strengthen legal measures to combat money laundering in all its forms.
The law states that any person who knowingly transfers or moves funds derived from a crime, with the intent of concealing or disguising their illegal origin or to help the perpetrator evade punishment, is considered to have committed a money laundering offense.
The legal definition also includes acts such as hiding or disguising the nature, source, location, movement, ownership, or rights of the funds, as well as acquiring, possessing, or using funds with the knowledge that they are criminal proceeds. Participation in any form—whether by collusion, incitement, advice, facilitation, contribution, or conspiracy—is also considered part of the crime.
The law affirms that money laundering is an independent crime and does not require a prior conviction for the predicate offense from which the illicit funds originated. Furthermore, punishment for the original crime does not exempt the individual from being held accountable for money laundering as a separate offense.
Origin of the Term
The term “money laundering” is now one of the most widely used concepts in financial crime, but its historical roots are linked to a notorious criminal figure who helped popularize it.
Ranjith, a certified anti-money laundering analyst and CEO of ReTRRAC Global, explained in a LinkedIn article titled AlCapone and Money Laundering: The Origin of the Term and Methods of Concealment , that Alphonse Gabriel Capone, one of America’s most infamous organized crime figures, played a role in the birth of the term during the 1920s and 1930s—although he did not invent the practice itself.
Capone’s illegal empire thrived on alcohol trafficking, gambling, and prostitution. As his illicit profits grew, he faced significant challenges hiding the source of his money from authorities. He began using laundromats as a front—cash-heavy businesses that allowed him to mix dirty money with legitimate revenue. From this practice, the term “money laundering” is believed to have originated.
These types of businesses, which rely heavily on cash transactions, made it easier to integrate criminal proceeds into the legitimate economy. Capone didn’t stop at laundromats; he also invested in other sectors like restaurants and hotels to further obscure the trail of his wealth.
Despite his efforts to conceal his profits, Capone was never prosecuted for his major crimes. Instead, he was ultimately convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in prison, after authorities proved that he failed to pay taxes on his income.
His dramatic downfall underscored the importance of financial transparency and tax oversight as powerful tools in combating organized crime. Though decades have passed since Capone’s time, his influence remains evident in the world of financial crime.
Today, money laundering has evolved far beyond laundromats. It now involves shell companies, offshore accounts, and cryptocurrencies—prompting governments and financial institutions around the world to enact strict laws and dedicate significant resources to tracking suspicious transactions and reporting them.
Arab Spring Funds
What became known as the “Arab Spring” began in late 2010 as a wave of popular uprisings across several Arab countries, demanding freedom, social justice, and an end to corruption. However, the collapse of regimes did not mark the end of financial corruption—rather, it revealed its true magnitude. In the chaos that accompanied the fall of governments and the breakdown of state institutions, money smugglers took advantage of the political and institutional vacuum to transfer vast fortunes abroad, later converting them into “clean” money through complex laundering mechanisms.
According to a report published by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, nearly $500 billion were smuggled out of Arab Spring countries during the decades preceding the revolutions. However, the actual peak of this smuggling occurred after the fall of regimes, at a time when oversight institutions were either absent or powerless, and borders were wide open for those with power and wealth.
In Libya, the smuggled funds are estimated at around $120 billion, though an official Libyan committee suggested the figure may reach $220 billion. In Egypt, international reports estimated that around $134 billion were looted during Hosni Mubarak’s rule. In Tunisia, the funds smuggled by the Ben Ali regime were estimated at $32 billion, while in Yemen, the wealth looted under Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule ranged between $30 and $70 billion.
Despite numerous attempts, recovering these funds has faced complex legal, political, and administrative obstacles. Among the main challenges is the weakness of legal files submitted to foreign states—often due to lack of evidence or incompatibility with the legal systems of the host countries.
Additionally, some countries refuse to cooperate, arguing that the funds were “stolen from the citizens by their own people,” citing vague reasons such as lack of political will, internal bureaucracy, and ineffective follow-up mechanisms.
There is also the complicity of some foreign states hosting these funds, benefiting from the investments and banking revenues—making cooperation superficial or very slow, despite international agreements calling for the restitution of stolen assets.
Experts agree that the smuggled funds post-Arab Spring were not only transferred as cash or through bank accounts—they were also laundered later through real estate purchases, investments in shell companies, and complex transfers through financial zones known for lax oversight, such as parts of the Caribbean, Switzerland, and Dubai.
Thus, the revolutions that once called for dignity and justice became an open corridor for financial corruption to reorganize itself and funnel the wealth of nations abroad—reflecting the intricate connection between state collapse and the rise of transnational financial crime.
Astonishingly, despite the conferences, forums, and years of efforts following the Arab Spring, these regimes and their leaders still possess the ability to loot and smuggle national wealth. For instance, Bashar al-Assad, after the fall of his regime in December 2024, managed to systematically smuggle Syria’s wealth as he fled to Moscow.
Another report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed cited Syrian sources revealing that $10 billion and tons of gold were smuggled, in addition to funds collected through extortion of Syrian businessmen, proceeds from drug trafficking, and systemic financial blackmail. These operations were reportedly executed by networks led by individuals close to the regime—most notably Asma al-Assad, through her secret office in the presidential palace.
The return of these funds to their countries of origin appears nearly impossible. After all, can a bank or state that has gained billions of dollars simply allow those funds to return? Especially when most European economies were built on the exploitation of other nations’ wealth, let alone when these funds arrived via smuggling with no effort on their part?
Safe Havens for Money Laundering
Despite intensive international efforts to combat money laundering, some countries continue to be accused of facilitating such crimes—either intentionally or due to legislative and institutional loopholes.
Andreas Ornelas, in an article on Swissinfo titled How Seriously Do Swiss Banks Verify the Source of Their ‘Sensitive’ Clients’ Funds?, reported that Geneva’s public prosecutor Yves Bertossa opened a criminal investigation in 2018 into former Spanish King Juan Carlos I on suspicion of laundering $100 million deposited in the Swiss bank Mirabaud.
The funds were linked to a Panama-registered foundation named Lucum, which donated $65 million in 2012 to Danish businesswoman Corinna Larsen, the king’s former companion. Suspicions arose because the king was the sole beneficiary of the foundation’s account.
Investigations suggest the money originated from a donation by the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Questions have been raised about its possible connection to a contract awarded to Spanish companies for the high-speed rail project between Mecca and Medina, allegedly brokered by King Juan Carlos.
These suspicions were reinforced by secret recordings of Corinna Larsen and statements from former Spanish investigators suggesting the king received commissions funneled abroad via intermediaries.
Larsen, for her part, denied any link between the funds and the rail project, claiming the money was a personal “gift” from the king out of affection. Her lawyers stated that Swiss banks had verified the funds’ legitimacy.
Swiss banks are subject to strict anti-money laundering laws, especially when dealing with politically exposed persons such as heads of state or ministers. These regulations include verifying identities, identifying the true beneficiary, and monitoring suspicious transactions. If conditions are not met, banks must refuse to open accounts or carry out transactions and report suspicions.
Despite progress since the reduction of banking secrecy, Swiss banks still face challenges and lingering negative stereotypes due to previous scandals affecting their global reputation.
Similarly, Dubai has faced growing criticism as a global hub for money laundering, attributed to its flexible regulatory environment, open financial system, and booming real estate market.
The Dubai Unlocked leaks revealed that influential figures from the Russian elite, including individuals under international sanctions, own properties in Dubai. This highlights how the real estate market is used to conceal illicit money origins. Investigations have shown that international fugitives have invested in luxury properties in the emirate, exploiting weak oversight and transparency in real estate transactions.
In the banking sector, journalistic reports and investigations have revealed that some Dubai-based banks were used as tools for laundering money by criminal networks, which managed to bypass the stricter controls enforced in other countries. This weakened the ability of oversight bodies to track suspicious money flows. Despite legislative amendments in the UAE to enhance its anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing framework, questions remain about the effectiveness of these measures.
In 2022, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed the UAE on its “gray list,” citing shortcomings in monitoring systems and source-tracing. This prompted UAE authorities to adopt corrective steps to improve compliance. However, these efforts have not yet dispelled international concerns about the scale of illicit funds flowing through Dubai—especially given the continuing ease of concealing beneficial ownership through shell companies and complex accounts.
Despite reform attempts, reports affirm that Dubai remains an attractive environment for illicit financial flows, posing serious challenges to global efforts aimed at promoting financial transparency and preventing the exploitation of economic systems by organized crime.
Where Did You Get This From?
In a world where questions about the origins of wealth and the integrity of financial transactions are growing, Islamic discourse redefines the relationship between humans and money from a deeply rooted religious and ethical framework based on divine revelation and Islamic law.
Islam did not emerge from a man-made philosophy or borrowed economic theory but was derived from the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ, establishing a comprehensive economic vision grounded in balance—recognizing individual ownership rights while upholding society’s right to scrutinize income sources.
The moral question “Where did you get this from?” directly connects to the protection of society from illicit wealth and the violation of others’ rights. The Qur’an explicitly forbids the unjust consumption of others’ property, whether through theft, bribery, or fraud, and affirms that money is not the absolute property of individuals but a temporary trust from God.
Islam encourages avoiding probing into others’ financial affairs unless necessary, assuming the default status of money is lawfulness.
As Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah stated in Majmu’ al-Fatawa, what a Muslim claims to own is presumed to be his unless proven otherwise. If a person unknowingly receives stolen money, it is treated as if it never existed.
However, the painful irony, as Dr. Kazem Al-Nuaimi notes in his article Where Did You Get This From?, is that the very nation to whom the Qur’an was revealed—blessed with land, sea, night, and day—can no longer harness its wealth. Even fish thrown ashore by waves are left untouched, while youth are driven toward migration or unemployment.
This reflects a crisis of disconnect between economic activity and ethical values, where money transforms from a means of dignity and worship into an end in itself, sought by any means—even at the cost of societal collapse.
As the Qur’an reminds in Surah Al-Hadid: “…And spend from that which He has made you stewards over…”, it emphasizes that humans are merely trustees, not absolute owners.
In the absence of such awareness, the question “Where did you get this from?” becomes more than an investigation—it becomes a moral compass for realigning financial systems in Muslim societies.
Returning to the Islamic model is not a call for isolation or rejection of modernity—it is a call to build a modern economy with contemporary tools, grounded in Islamic principles, rooted in justice, accepting only what is pure, and purifying what has been tainted by greed, exploitation, or tyranny.
