July 22 2017
More than 23,000 incidents of suspected money laundering or terrorist financing were notified to the gardaí last year, an increase in reports of 7.5%. Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions were responsible for the vast majority of 23,308 suspicious transaction reports which were passed to gardaí during 2016. While no further action was required in around a third of cases, notifications resulted in 20 large-scale investigations being carried out, many linked to drug trafficking gangs. Assets worth more than €4m were seized or frozen last year by various authorities including the Criminal Assets Bureau and the DPP’s assets seizing unit. A further €6.3m in tax- related offences was identified by Revenue from information gathered from in excess of 80% of reports.