Do financial criminals commit perfect crimes?

Abstract

Purpose Financial criminals commit crimes with such disconcerting ease that economic and social stability is threatened. Armed with intangible knowledge and backed by legal, financial and accounting expertise, criminals use their intellectual weapons to carry out their activities with impunity by operating in extra-territorial spaces such as tax havens. The purpose of this paper is based on interviews with key figures in the French judiciary and also French tax officials. Design/methodology/approach A survey in the form of semi-directive interviews was conducted from March to July 2012 with auditors, judicial magistrates and a representative of a large trade union of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry. Questioning this panel of persons from different but associated horizons enabled the collection of practical, technical and professional information on how they perceive acts of financial crime in the practice of their mission. Findings It was possible to observe that financial crime is motive-driven and develops in specific spaces and contexts, aided by informational weapons. Research limitations/implications By promoting both financial optimisation and tax minimisation, non-cooperative territories provide the perfect breeding ground for innovative minds to distort social norms which uphold equal tax treatment and a common effort. Financial information is the recurring theme throughout, allowing ever more cunning offenders to distort the value of words and the meaning of economic results. Practical implications The ease with which financial crimes are committed remains striking. Understanding the reasons why financial criminals appear to enjoy relative impunity requires questioning the magistrates and actors involved in the combat against financial crime. The interviews conducted with these key players show that financial crime develops and flourishes on the basis of a threefold specificity: a specific motive linked to absolute enrichment without economic foundation, diffuse and imprecise spaces where economic crimes proliferate with total impunity and an intangible weapon in the form of financial information. Social implications The private appropriation of financial information leads to the misappropriation of public goods and its capture by private operators, thereby depriving the community of a source of knowledge and expertise. Originality/value This paper is based on interviews with key figures in the French judiciary and also French tax officials. A survey in the form of semi-directive interviews was conducted from March to July 2012 with auditors, judicial magistrates and a representative of a large trade union of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.