September 15 2017
Criminal organizations have invested 100 billion euros in Germany, they are increasingly buying real estate, cars, construction machinery, jewelery or antiques. Germany is considered an eldorado for money launderers. In one case, a German company had bought machines with illegal money from drug stores and moved them to the Middle East via a company network. The salesmen of the construction machines had no suspicion.
The new money laundering legislation, which has just entered into force, is intended to put a stop to the machinations. Under threat of drastic money penalties, it obliges so-called material goods traders to closely examine who wants to conclude a transaction and whether the money comes from a criminal offense. A “plusminus” test with a hidden camera shows, however, that retailers are so far less sensitized. Traders would have to check out their customers even in Terrordatenbanken from certain sums and suspicious moments.