Yesterday the Finance Commission of the Camera has finally approved the bill on self-laundering and voluntary disclosure. The green light came after several postponements and today the text is awaited in the classroom for general discussion. The goal is to obtain green light from Montecitorio within a week, before the arrival of the stability law. If the operation fails, the provision (whose first signatory is Marco Causi, Pd) could move into the same Stability law or into an ad hoc decree.
The chapter dedicated to Voluntary disclosure, aimed at regularizing financial assets illegally held abroad, provides for a two-stage procedure. Firstly, anyone who wants to remedy their position will have to voluntarily communicate to the state all the data on their funds abroad. Subsequently, he will have the obligation to pay the sums due in a lump sum, upon invitation by the Administration, within 15 days of the date fixed for the appearance. It will be possible to adhere to the procedure until 30 September 2015, but the sanctions will be reduced only on violations committed by 30 September 2014.
As for theself laundering – the most controversial novelty, on which the opposition of Forza Italia and Ncd was heard – the text defines two different types of crime: the first, punished with imprisonment from 2 to 8 years and a fine of 5 thousand to 25 thousand euros, regards whoever replaces, transfers or uses money, goods or other utilities in economic or financial activities resulting from an intentional crime for which imprisonment equal to or greater than 5 years is envisaged; the second, punished with one to four years' imprisonment, concerns those who reinvest the money obtained from intentional crimes for which a period of imprisonment of less than five years is envisaged.
Magistrates will therefore be granted a double action: against the initial crime and against the activities financed with the proceeds of the initial crime. There five-year threshold However, what distinguishes the two cases is not a secondary detail, since the typical crimes of launderers (fraud, embezzlement and irregularities in the tax return) are punishable by a maximum of three years in prison. The Berlusconi wanted to go even further, demanding that the crime be contestable only for crimes involving the mafia and drug trafficking.
The text under discussion in the Chamber also contemplates a specific discipline for the self-laundering of the proceeds of tax evasion: in this case, if the money is intended only for "personal use or enjoyment", only the tax offense will be punishable. The clarification is included in one of the latest amendments and was decisive in overcoming the political tug of war on the measure.
According to the Minister of Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, the regulation on self-laundering represents “an important step towards the regularization of international trade and will bring a tangible contribution to the country. We expect the arrival of additional resources: it is a fundamental tool for combating tax evasion".
Lastly, the bill obliges companies to equip themselves with internal control structures for the new offence.
