Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/302202
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 APRIL 2014 News 7 MATTHEW VELLA THE use of Maltese bank accounts and international wire transfers have featured in the vast majority of suspected transactions reported to the police and Malta's financial intelligence analysis unit (FIAU) in 2013. 29 suspected offences were report- ed to the police in 2013, the highest amount since 2008, the majority pertaining to suspected fraudulent activity. The FIAU, which fights money laundering, said the most popular instances of suspected offences in- volved the use of Maltese compa- nies and banks by foreign nationals, as vehicles to launder the proceeds of criminal funds generated outside Malta "The main trend observed dur- ing the year as that most cases re- ferred to the Police for investiga- tion involved the use of a company registered in Malta having at least one non-resident foreign beneficial owner. Once again, the use of Mal- tese bank accounts and internation- al wire transfers featured in the vast majority of the cases reviewed," the FIAU said, In some cases, the subjects availed themselves of the services of Mal- tese professionals and service pro- viders. In these cases these entities were suspected of having been used unknowingly and unwittingly to launder criminal funds. "As observed in 2012, the use of companies licensed by the LGA (Lotteries and Gaming Authority) to operate in the remote gaming sector also featured in a number of cases referred to the police for in- vestigation. Similarly, companies licensed or authorised by the MFSA (financial services authority) to pro- vide services were identified as hav- ing potentially been used to disguise the origin of criminal proceeds," the FIAU said. In eight cases referred to the police in 2013, one or more non-resident foreign nationals set up Maltese companies, opened a bank account in the name of the companies, for the receipt of substantial funds from bank accounts in foreign jurisdic- tions to then transfer these funds to other foreign bank accounts. The Maltese companies would form part of a larger multinational company structure, set up intention- ally to layer the proceeds of crime generated in foreign jurisdictions. But local providers would have al- so assisted the suspects in setting up the companies, and providing them with fiduciary services or director- ships. Intelligence obtained from the FIAU's counterparts in another case provided substantial indications that the Maltese companies and bank ac- counts had been used to defraud hundreds of individuals in foreign countries and to subsequently laun- der the illicit proceeds. Cases involved the suspicion of the laundering of profits of illegal gambling through cash deposits in a bank account followed by substan- tial wire transfers to online gam- ing companies registered outside Malta. Three cases forwarded to the po- lice involved the use of substan- tial amounts of funds in cash sus- pected to be the proceeds of crime, for the purchase of luxury items by individuals having a history of proceeds-generating convictions, the use of potentially forged with- drawal vouchers to substantiate cash deposits, multiple deposits on the same day at different banks, and unreasonable explanations on the source of the funds upon deposits being made. A number of cases involved the use of remote gaming accounts held with remote gaming companies licensed in Malta to launder the proceeds of crime. Cases varied from the use of prepaid cards to deposit potentially illicit funds in the remote gaming accounts with eventual withdrawal taking place through bank accounts; to the attempt to transfer funds held in the account to other persons, transferring the ownership of the proceeds of the criminal activity. Remote gaming accounts in Malta used for money laundering