Criminal liability for acts with property obtained by criminal means: system analysis of the regulation and delimitation of corpus delicti

The article provides a systematic analysis of the provisions of the criminal law of Ukraine on liability for acts with property obtained by criminal means. As a result, the author distinguishes a set of criminal law provisions on such acts. This system of provisions is united by the following common features: acts aimed at acquiring or exercising ownership rights to the property obtained by criminal means or aimed at concealing their illegal origin (as a way of concealing the predicate (primary) criminal offense in general); socially dangerous consequences (“infusion” of criminal proceeds into legal circulation), general features of the subject and intentional form of guilt (except for negligence which is possible in the course of legalization of the property obtained by criminal means - art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The criminal law provisions on actions with the property obtained by criminal means, the totality of which has the features of the so-called association of criminal law provisions, include the provisions provided for in: part 5 of Article 27 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as a sign of an accomplice); Articles 198, 396 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as a sign of involvement in a criminal offense); Articles 199, 209, 256, 306 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the so-called secondary independent corpus delicti of criminal offenses). The main distinguishing feature of an act with property obtained by criminal means as part of complicity (part 5 of Article 27 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), as well as in the case of involvement (Articles 198, 396 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and legalization of property obtained by criminal means (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) is that legalization involves only legally defined types of property or property of a certain value, accompanied by threshold or suspicious transactions or financial transactions. Subsidiary application of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Laundering) of the Proceeds of Crime, Terrorist Financing and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” No. 361-IX of December 6, 2019 is mandatory to establish the content of the elements of the crime of “Legalization (laundering) of the proceeds of crime” (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Accordingly, the acquisition of ownership of other property (which is not the subject of transactions and financial operations which are subject to financial monitoring) or the exercise of ownership powers in relation to such property is covered by the institute of complicity (if the person promised to commit such acts in advance) or the institute of involvement in a predicate criminal offense under Articles 198 and 396 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (if the person did not promise to commit such acts in advance).