Of all money-laundering transactions in Europe, only 10% are investigated
Frankfurt — Europol’s head is calling for tighter controls after an analysis has found that money laundering goes mostly uninvestigated, despite banks alerting police to record numbers of suspicious transactions. European banks flagged almost 1-million transactions suspected of laundering money in 2014, the latest year for which data is available, the law enforcement agency said on Tuesday. But only one in 10 of these was investigated and Europol is now urging banks to improve the data they provide to help law enforcement authorities to follow up. "The most surprising thing is the consistent figure of 10% … investigated by police," Europol’s executive director Rob Wainwright said, adding that laundering was driven in large part by the drugs trade. "We haven’t gone far enough." Europol’s analysis underscores the wide extent of money laundering in Europe, charting a steady rise to almost 1-million suspect cases in 2014. That was 17% higher than the previous year and more than two-thir...
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