From “underground economy” to “criminal property” “Regional intervention units” and the extension of penal and tax control

This contribution deals with the emergence of a new penal and fiscal range of operations meant to impose financial penalties on criminals. Based on empirical data collected during my observation of three Groupes d’intervention régionaux (GIR), marshaling police officers from different forces, tax auditors, customs officers and labour market fraud inspectors, this article analyzes the impact of the transformation of professional activities on functional and symbolic divisions within fraud control. These agents have together been building a new type of penal sanction by the use of anti-money laundering legislation, which was until then unexploited. They try to sanction individuals who, while being socially dominated, commit illegal activities that are traditionally associated with the dominant classes. We will show how their first attempts faced moral and practical obstacles. The paper aims to understand the diversity of approaches to tax fraud as dealt with by these units in controlling its most illegal and illegitimate instances.