Financial deals probed by gardaí up 34%

The number of financial deals under investigation by gardaí for links to criminal activity has substantially increased.

Figures from the Department of Justice’s Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Unit (AMLCU) have revealed that, at the end of 2012, there was a 34% jump in the volume of suspicious transactions under active investigation.

These arose from irregular activities spotted by financial institutions, lawyers, the Revenue Commissioners, and certain businesses obliged to track deals covered under money laundering and terrorist financing laws.

The AMLCU said the number of cases of money laundering reported and prosecuted in this country remained low compared with other European countries. However, there had been a rise in the amount of investigative work and it expected the beefed-up laws introduced last year to strengthen its work.

Its annual statistical report said in 2012 12,390 suspicious transactions were reported to the Garda bureau of fraud investigation, an increase of 11% in a year. Another 98 were referred to the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Among those with the fraud squad, 47 explicitly involved suspected money laundering.

The AMLCU said that, unlike in other countries, it was not practice in Ireland to prosecute for money-laundering offences if an associated crime was also before the courts.

In 2011, 5,460 of the reported cases were closed and 5,708 kept on file for continuing investigation. By the end of 2012, 4,677 of the cases reported that year were closed and 7,702 were kept under investigation.

The AMLCU said that, in many cases, the reports received by the fraud squad resulted in initial inspections but it may be after follow-up inquiries that evidence of money laundering is uncovered.

The Revenue Commissioners examined 12,175 suspicious trades in 2012 and in the 10 years since the suspicious transactions reporting structure was established it had received 110,107 complaints. These have brought in an extra €73m in taxes.

The largest suspicious transaction settlement in 2012 was €1.5m and separately €714,511 was frozen.

In 2012, the Revenue Commissioners said it increased its participation with other agencies and settled 29 cases.

According to the AMLCU, the Director of Public Prosecutions got 80 confiscation orders against convicted criminals, half of these related to cash deemed to be the proceeds of crime.

The AMLCU itself is responsible for policing 6,000 specific companies that sell high-value goods, run trust companies or run private members casinos.

It inspected 368 firms in 2012 and reported 55 cases to the gardaí.

The AMLCU identified particular problems policing potential money laundering in trust structures and company service providers who run businesses on other people’s behalf.

Elsewhere, the Law Society’s money-laundering committee sent files on 12 suspicious transactions to the gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners.

The Central Bank carried out inspections of 28 financial institutions in 2012, a drop on the previous years.