April 24, 2016,
The caseload of Hong Kong’s lead agency in the battle against money laundering and terrorist financing has soared to a record levels as a global crackdown on dirty money fuels an explosion in reports of suspicious activity from city law firms.
As pressure mounts to stamp out dirty money deals, new official figures obtained by the Sunday Morning Post reveal that the number of reports of suspicious financial activity made to the Hong Kong authorities by law firms in the city jumped from 222 in 2014 to 894 in 2015.
Overall, the number of reports of suspected dodgy financial dealings – known formally as suspicious transaction reports – made to the government’s Joint Financial Intelligence Unit has also climbed to an all-time high of 43,000.