Adulterated saffron TBML scheme unearthed in Spain
Spanish authorities have unearthed a suspected trade-based money laundering (TBML) operation in which a criminal network adulterated highly priced saffron to launder millions of euros. The network falsified documents to pass off the saffron they sold as a high-grade version of the spice whereas in…
Banks involved in international trade need to be more alert to illicit trading in the UK’s new freeports
Banks involved in international trade transactions need to be more alert to illicit trading in the UK’s eight new freeports that are due to enter operation in late 2021 according to a new study from the University of Portsmouth. It highlights the potential for trade-based…
Banks will always be needed, but management accountants should also now focus on TBML
There will always be a need for the banks and other institutions to focus on the risks of money laundering, but increasingly there is a recognition that organised crime and other money launderers are looking for other means to launder their funds according to a…
Case study focuses on bank financial crime compliance team
S&P Global Market Intelligence has published a case study describing how it provided a solution for an Asian-based Asian Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team tasked with screening trade transactions for signs of trade-based money laundering (TBML) and identifying any direct or indirect exposure to sanctioned…
Transnational criminals observed in TBML activities in New Zealand but customs sharpening focus says FATF
Transnational organised crime groups have been detected in trade-based money laundering (TBML) activities in New Zealand while customs operations are gearing up to focus more sharply on TBML operations according to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In its newly released Mutual Evaluation Report New Zealand-2021,…
Money laundering and IFFs amongst concerns over China-funded port plans in Sri Lanka
Money laundering and illicit financial flows (IFFs) are amongst several concerns raised by petitioners who have triggered a five-judge bench of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court to examine several petitions filed against the US$1.4 billion China-funded Colombo Port City Commission Bill presently in parliament. The…
Anti-corruption group report critical of banks and their role in IFFs flowing from Nigeria to the UK and UAE
Nigerian NGO Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) has published a three part report on policies, laws and practices in the UK and the UAE as well as domestically in relation to the roles of financial and non-financial institutions in the facilitation of illicit financial…
Saudi agencies join forces to tackle trade system abuses
Saudi Arabia has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the country’s Public Prosecution and its General Customs Authority (GCA) to the effect that they will cooperated to detect and prevent money laundering through its trade system. Trade-based money laundering (TBML) is one of three…
Bangladesh introduces sentences of seven years in jail for invoice misdeclaration
Traders and investors in Bangladesh found guilty of misdeclaration of exports, imports and investments abroad will be sentenced to seven years in prison as the country continues its clampdown on trade-based money laundering (TBML). The move is one of several measures taken by the authorities…
FATF posts video of TBML webinar following landmark publications
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has posted a 90 minute video of a webinar it held on 18 March 2021 to discuss the most recent trade-based money laundering trends (TBML) and developments. Underlining what appears to an increasingly sharp focus on TBML by the…
