Asian Journal of Criminal Justice and Forensic Studies

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  • Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026

  • The impact of legal norms on criminal practices related to money laundering in Kazakhstan: A comparison with the experience of Singapore

  • Received 05.01.2024,
  • Revised 24.04.2026,
  • Accepted 11.06.2026
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Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026
  • financial security; cross-border financial flows; income legalisation; asset confiscation; economic turnover
  • https://doi.org/10.63621/ajcjfs/1.2026.38
  • Pages 38-51

The purpose of the study was to clarify the role of regulatory mechanisms in the development and change of methods of money laundering in Kazakhstan, including a comparative analysis of Singapore’s legal approach. The study used a qualitative and quantitative comparative design using comparative legal and special legal analysis, a case study based on the Placement-Layering-Integration model within the framework of standards. During the study, it was found that the legal regulation of money laundering in Kazakhstan and Singapore is based on a two-level model of Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Financing of Terrorism, which combines the criminalisation of money laundering and a financial monitoring system. It was revealed that in Kazakhstan, money laundering is an independent crime and is supplemented by a centralised model of financial monitoring. But in Singapore, criminalisation is implemented through a ban on transactions with property of criminal origin, combined with a developed confiscation regime, and preventive control is provided by sectorally differentiated regulatory requirements of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Comparative analysis showed that Kazakhstan is dominated by the procedural control model, in which the key restriction at the placement and layering stage is centralised financial monitoring and formalised application of Customer Due Diligence and Enhanced Due Diligence. In Singapore, the legal impact is more differentiated and combines sectorally detailed compliance with the real threat of asset confiscation. It was revealed that these differences form different “regulatory risk ecosystems”, within which criminal practices are adapted by optimising to meet procedural requirements or flowing into less regulated segments of the financial system. It was proved that the adaptation of certain elements of the Singapore approach, in particular, the strengthening of property mechanisms at the integration stage and the focus of sanctions on systemic risks, can increase the real regulatory impact of Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Financing of Terrorism norms in Kazakhstan. The practical significance of the results obtained lies in the possibility of their use by the authorised financial monitoring bodies and regulators of the Republic of Kazakhstan in improving the criteria for assessing client and transaction risks, and in the development of supervisory practice

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