October 18 2017
The Israeli authority dealing with money laundering and terror financing issued a document on Wednesday listing “red flags” for identifying real estate deals suspected of involving dirty money, for the benefit of financial and business entities, chiefly banks and mortgage banks. Such institutions are required to report suspicious activity to the authority, which is part of the Justice Ministry. In recent years, the significant increase in the number of real estate deals and in housing prices has fueled fears of money launderers exploiting the system. The special characteristics of the real estate market, which includes large-scale deals with the option of making cash payments and the lack of obligation to register the full chain of property ownership, add to the fear.