Southern Africa’s favourable illicit natural resource trade environment highlighted in new AfDB report
Natural resource management in Southern Africa is faced with weak governance structure and poor institutional and legislation frameworks according to a new report published by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Southern Africa Economic Outlook 2023 says that as a result of this, the region…
Fintrac publishes money laundering indicators related to IWT in support of international efforts to curb wildlife trafficking
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) has published a new operational alert, Laundering the Proceeds of Crime from Illegal Wildlife Trade. It aims to assist Canadian businesses meet legal requirements to identify and report financial transactions related to the laundering of…
Banks filed record number of SARs last year, Russian sanctions a factor
Banks are providing by far the greatest number of suspicious activity reports (SARS) to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) according its latest report which features statistics covering the years 2020-21 and 2021-22. The agency’s 2022 Suspicious Activity Report (SARs) Annual Report also shows that…
US and South Africa establish task force to combat financing of wildlife trafficking
The US treasury department and South Africa’s national treasury have made a commitment to form a US-South Africa task force on combatting the financing of wildlife trafficking. The task force will work to combat illicit finance linked to illegal wildlife trade in three key areas:…
Kenyan anti-corruption chief meets FBI director as Nairobi’s AML progress goes into reverse
The CEO of Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Twalib Mbarak, has been meeting with US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials at their Washington headquarters. The meetings took place in the context of pressure for US agencies to work more closely with international partners…
IACC panel discusses role of financial institutions in alliance against environmental crimes
TRAFFIC, a non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants, has hosted its first panel at the International Anti-corruption Conference (IACC) to highlight the need for an alliance against environmental crimes. The panel of counter-corruption and financial crime experts discussed how organisations…
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing ignored by FATF and financial community
The financial community, led by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), should show the same degree of commitment to preventing environmental and ecological damage to the oceans as it does to the charismatic species on land according to researchers at the Royal United Services Institute…
US customs to increase focus on TBML this year
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be increasing its focus on trade-based money laundering (TBML) and tax evasion this year according to CBP’s executive assistant commissioner, AnnMarie Highsmith. Customs officers are at the forefront of efforts to counter TBML because it routinely involves the…
Misinvoicing amongst TBML typologies used to cover up environmental crime
Allowing environmental, conservation, and anti-corruption organisations to access export invoices and trade data to identify misinvoicing could help curb environmental crime, including illegal mining, logging, fishing, and wildlife trafficking, according to a virtual convention on environmental crime related illicit financial flows. Transparent beneficial ownership information,…
TBML and IWT amongst four money laundering typologies drawing more attention
An analysis by consultants at Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) of anti-money laundering (AML) trends and challenges has identified trade-based money laundering (TBML) and the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) as two of the four money laundering typologies that have recently received more attention from regulators and…
