【正文】 work of closeknit family, professional,regional or ethnic expectedly,such systems flourish in societies that traditionally have a high degree of interdependency in terms of family ties,munity affiliations or a bination of family and business affiliations. A key and highly salient example of how closeknit ties are important to the operations of IMTNs is the case of the Pashtun ethnic group indigenous to the Northwest frontier province of Pakistan and large areas of only does the Pashtun population have a long standing record of involvement in the money transfer 39。 a trade which dove tails conveniently with,indeed may provide a necessary39。 service for,the Afghan drugs trade but this trade is facilitated by a large transient Pashtun population living outside the traditional Pashtun tribal areas. Most significantly for current investigations into the international movement of terrorist funds,not only was the Taliban regime anchored firmly on Pashtun support but a large Pashtun ethnic group is found in the key regional financial trading centre of the United Arab Emirates(UAE). In light of these observations,it bees more clear as to why these money transfer works have proven to be popular,indeed convenient, mechanisms for criminal brotherhoods to disseminate39。,not least money obtained from drug trafficking,tax evasion and various other types of prescribed activities that fall under the umbrella definition of financial crime a definition which now covers the transfer of39。 funds. A further reason for the growth of IMTNs is that they provide an important socio economic function by channelling provide a rapid,reliable and relatively cheap conduit for, most monly,the homeward channelling by migrant workers of cash the International Labour Organisation(ILO)report,the value of are estimated to equate to the value of remittances transferred through the formal financial short, and over and above the positive social welfare outes which such cash transfers are likely to engender to those individuals and families who receive them,39。s country of cient developing countries,the estimated US$73bn which migrant workers remit annually are estimated to provide between39。. Accordingly,and despite the informal nature of these works,the positive impacts that they can impart upon the real economy can be significant. THE ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF THE HAWALA SYSTEM Although it is not possible to determine the exac origins of the hawala system,it is widely accepted that its roots lie firmly in South lack of knowledge about its origins is reflected by the degree of confusion and uncertainty that exist regarding the name 39。itself. Although it I widely accepted that the origins of hawala lie in non Arab speaking Muslim countries,some source quote that the term 39。 has Arabic Lambert outlines,the term with the spelling 39。denotes39。. Alternatively,the term39。 has also been defined as a Hindi word meaning 39。.T o add to the confusion other sources present hawala again as a Hindi word,yet this time defined as meaning39。 . Regardless of this definitional uncertainty,it is beyond doubt that the hawala system proved itself to have a wider geographic applicability outside of South Asia once early regional trading links developed,first with Arab traders and then under the Ottoman practical importance of the hawala,and a likely key factor in the initial wider use of this type of system, was that it permitted peripatetic traders to reduce significantly the risk of the loss of financial assets from robbery. Albeit that the threat of highway robbery has reduced in most countries across the world,the convenience and simplicity of hawala which proved so appealing to early traders still has a continuing relevance to the contemporary ,the continuing relevance of the hawala system cannot be disassociated from the historically unprecedented scale of the South Asian human diaspora across Europe,North and South America,South and East Africa and ,the hawala system can rightly be considered as a global informal financial work. As an alternate money transfer work,hawala may be used for transferring funds to and fro between two parties,and to do so either within or acros national practice,a customer may approach a hawaladar (agent)to transfer money from,for example,Pakistan to the hawaladar in Pakistan would contact his counter par in the USA by fax,phone or and request that a sum of money in US dollars,equivalent to an agreed amount of Pak