DOI: https://doi.org/10.33994/kndise.2021.66.29

M. Dumchykov O. Bondarenko M. Utkina

The purpose of the article is to analyze approaches to the formation of the essence and constituent elements of the forensic characteristics of the legalization of corruption proceeds (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), to highlight and describe the elements of the forensic characteristics of this criminal offense.
Forensic characteristics play a special role in the very structure of the methodology for investigating a criminal offense of this type. A successful and comprehensive study of the circumstances of a criminal offense largely depends not only on the correct definition of the criminal-legal signs of an act, but also on the investigator’s understanding of the criminalistics nature of the corresponding offense.
The analysis of publications indicates the presence of a number of disagreements between the authors in the construction of the forensic characteristics of the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime.
Comparison of the existing doctrinal approaches to understanding the structural elements of the forensic characteristics of the legalization of funds obtained by criminal means, made it possible to form the author’s approach. According to the authors of the article, the forensic characteristics of the legalization (laundering) of incomes obtained as a result of the commission of a criminal offense should include both basic and additional elements. The main elements of the forensic characteristics of legalization are proposed to include the following: typical traces of a criminal offense; its subject; the way of committing such an offense.
Additional, according to the authors of the article, it is advisable to include the following: the subject of a criminal offense; the time of its commission; the area in which the offense is committed; the environment of the criminal offense; source of origin of “dirty money”.
The proposed elements of the forensic characteristics of a criminal offense can be the starting point in the development of an effective methodology for investigating money laundering.

Key words: legalization, criminal proceeds, money laundering, forensic characteristics, corruption.