Determining the relationship between corruption and money laundering

Corruption and money laundering are phenomena that often co-occur in practice and are so closely linked that it is sometimes difficult to separate one from the other. Corruption, on the one hand, causes money laundering, while at the same time, money laundering strengthens corruption. The research carried out in this paper aimed to clarify the relationship between money laundering and corruption, and their relationship was analyzed using the panel method. Six countries are included in the research sample: Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, and Sweden, and the research period is from 2011 to 2020. The research results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between corruption and money laundering. The results of the research suggest that the increase in activities aimed at preventing money laundering will result in a decrease of corruption. These results indicate that the efforts of various international and national organizations are justified to promote and improve the money laundering prevention system, as the fight against this phenomenon has a positive effect on the reduction of corruption at the same time. It is undoubtedly necessary to continue to promote and improve transparency in the anti-money laundering system since the increased transparency of the system implies a reduced possibility of corruption among all stakeholders involved in the anti-money laundering system. According to our knowledge, this area is still under-researched, and this paper contributes to clarifying the interrelationship between money laundering and corruption. Indeed, it should be pointed out that there is room for further research in which a larger sample could be included, and the analysis could be extended to more countries. Also, due to their harmful and destructive influence on all social structures, the relationship between these phenomena will continue to occupy the attention of scientists and will be the subject of research interest in the future.