Lindner wants to fight money laundering with a new authority

In 2010, the examiners in Germany last issued an almost catastrophic certificate. The task force criticized the fact that many checkpoints did not even have “sufficient awareness” of money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

The resulting damage could be enormous: in 2016, a study by an economics professor commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Finance came to the conclusion that in Germany every year up to 100 billion euros would be laundered.

Lindner wants to track down big money launderers

Since then, both Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) and Olaf Scholz (SPD), as Federal Finance Ministers, have tried to better combat money laundering through reforms. The new FATF country report also recognizes that there are improvements in the fight against money laundering.

But also “the need for action is clear,” it said in government circles. Successes are mainly in the small cases. But now it has to be a matter of tracking down the big cases. There is a need for enforcement there: “We have to get better.” The large, ramified and international cases of financial crime in Germany are currently “not given the necessary prioritization”.

The new federal authority, which is supposed to fight money laundering centrally, could change that: “The big cases must finally expect that we will track them down,” said a government official.

This authority should consist of three pillars. The first pillar is the Federal Financial Criminal Police Office, which will have its own investigation area and real investigative powers and will follow the approach of following the “money trail”.

>> Read here: International controllers are calling for Germany to do more in the fight against money laundering

Federal Finance Minister Lindner told the “Spiegel”: “We have to consistently follow the money trail instead of being satisfied with uncovering a crime related to money laundering.”

The second pillar is the former anti-money laundering unit FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit). With the help of computer programs, it is supposed to filter out cases from the suspicious activity reports that the investigators are investigating. The FIU will likely remain as it is – even in the same locations. But in future it could no longer be with customs, but with the new federal authority.

Big trouble about money laundering unit

In recent years, the FIU has repeatedly made negative headlines with IT problems, a lack of staff or a large number of suspected cases that have not been processed.

The third pillar is a coordinating central office for money laundering supervision be. It would oversee the so-called non-financial sector, such as the real estate industry and the gaming industry. According to the report, a particularly large amount of black money is channeled back into the regular economic cycle in these sectors.

Responsibility has so far been with the federal states and will remain so after the reform plans, as government circles emphasize. However, the Federal Ministry of Finance is aiming for a reduction in the more than 300 supervisory authorities and wants to coordinate the state authorities more closely.

The Central Office for Money Laundering Supervision should also develop guidelines and standards “so that we don’t have a patchwork quilt, but rather risk-based supervision from a single source,” says the ministry’s reform paper.

It is also planned that financial investigators will be better trained in order to build up expertise. According to the paper, the digitization and networking of registers could also be promoted.

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Lindner’s proposals are well received in the SPD. “I very much welcome the initiative,” said SPD member of the Bundestag Sebastian Fiedler. He is former chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators.

Financial Experts: Proposals don’t go far enough

Fiedler criticized: “For years we have been complaining, with good reason, that conditions for money launderers in Germany are almost paradisiacal. Traditionally, security authorities don’t even see one percent of the estimated 100 billion euros that are laundered here every year.” The decisive factors are good organizational integration of the new authority into the German security architecture and additional powers to track down and confiscate suspicious assets .

Financial expert Konrad Duffy from the non-governmental organization Finanzwende also said Lindner’s proposals were a step in the right direction. In important places, however, they remained vague or insufficient: “A more centralized money laundering supervision would be a great step forward in view of the previous confusion and unclear responsibilities at the state level. Here, however, it is important not to stop halfway and to really ensure complete centralization.” The countries that have always rejected a federal financial police are likely to resist this.

The Union sees the blame for the obvious deficits in the fight against money laundering above all with the former Federal Minister of Finance and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Scholz did not ensure that the Financial Intelligence Unit was adequately staffed or had sufficient skills.

CDU faction deputy Thorsten Frei told the “Rheinische Post”: “It is therefore fundamentally right and good that the new finance minister wants to make this topic a top priority – even if his announcements are more like an escape in view of an impending catastrophic report by the Financial Action Task Forces looks ahead.”

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