June 7 2016
The Financial Analysis Intelligence Unit will be analysing why financial institutions like money remittance companies have reported less suspicious financial transactions than in previous years. But in 2015, the FIAU said that the only sector where the number of STRs had decreased – against the general trend of annual increases – was that of financial institutions, down to 11 reports in 2015 from 18 in 2014.
In particular, the FIAU said their level of reporting “remained worryingly low” and that it would investigate why this level of reporting remained low and take measures to rectify it.
In fact, a general increase in STR submissions was noted across practically all categories, a 21% increase over 2014 that mainly came from credit institutions and banks – in total 281 reports. One of the predominant ways of using the remote gaming industry to launder money was chip dumping – the intentional loss of chips to another player, especially on a virtual poker table, the FIAU said.
In one case, considerable amounts of cash denominated in high-value notes were exchanged into gaming chips in a casino and then changed back into lower-value notes in what appeared to be an attempt to break down the proceeds of crime into more usable denominations.
In a separate case that raised the possibility of terrorist financing, the FIAU noted that a number of money remittances were made in favour of a Maltese national, who then withdrew the cash using ATMs and cashier facilities, before transferring the funds again to various individuals abroad using money service bureaus.