Reports of suspected money laundering through financial institutions rose 147 percent in 2010-11 from the previous two years “and they are still on the rise,” Anna Maria Tarantola, deputy director at the central bank, said in testimony to parliament.
About 800 of the total reports involved people arrested or under investigation for mafia activities, she added. A quarter of those were reported in northern Italy, outside of the territories historically controlled by the mafia, she said.
Organized crime groups such as Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, the Camorra around Naples, or the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta have long had a stranglehold on the Italian economy.
But their grip has tightened during the current economic slump as banks reduced lending and the criminal networks, flush with cash, boosted their investments in the real economy.
“Money laundering is anti-cyclical, and so it increases in times of crisis,” Tarantola said.
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Testimony of Deputy Director General Anna Maria Tarantola before the parmiamentary anti-mafia committee (in Italian) : not available anymore