The German Tax Union is demanding that Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner quickly implement his plans to reorganize the fight against money laundering.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The federal chairman of the German tax union, Florian Köbler, calls on the federal finance minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to quickly implement his plans to reorganize the fight against money laundering.
After the resignation of the head of the anti-money laundering unit FIU, the minister must make the issue a “top priority”. “His announcements in August must now be quickly followed by action,” Köbler told the Handelsblatt.
At the end of August, Lindner announced that he wanted to set up a new federal agency to combat financial crime. According to the plans, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is based at the General Customs Directorate, is to become part of this new federal authority alongside a new Federal Financial Criminal Police Office.
FIU boss Christof Schulte resigned last week. The agency has been under criticism for a long time. On Friday, Lindner admitted major problems with unprocessed suspected cases at the anti-money laundering unit.
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The deficits at the FIU stretched over a surprisingly long period of time and were there before he took office a year ago. They are unacceptable, stressed the minister.
The Union also has sympathy for the idea of a Federal Financial Criminal Police Office
The FIU is the national central office for the evaluation of financial transactions that could be related to money laundering or terrorist financing. In 2017, at the instigation of then Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), it was removed from the area of responsibility of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Ministry of the Interior and relocated under the umbrella of customs.
Thousands of suspected cases have accumulated at the FIU.
(Photo: dpa)
Lindner is hoping for progress with a new higher authority against financial crime. “We have very ambitious goals here,” said the FDP chairman. Clearly too little has been done against money laundering so far. The small fish were caught, but not the big ones. “We’re going to change that now.”
According to Lindner’s plans, the new authority should be equipped with the necessary powers and resources to be able to achieve better results quickly. However, the minister recently left open the details of implementation and equipment.
Financial crime is also to be bundled with the enforcement of sanctions, such as the current one against Russian oligarchs. A new Federal Financial Criminal Police Office is planned, which is intended to support the public prosecutor’s offices in a targeted manner.
The FIU, which receives suspected cases of money laundering, is to do the preliminary work for the new authority. In addition, a coordination office is to be set up for the non-financial sector, such as real estate and gambling. So far there are over 300 supervisory authorities in the federal states. The Federal Ministry of Finance would like to reduce this number.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a unit of customs, received almost 300,000 suspected money laundering reports last year.
(Photo: dpa)
The tax unionist Köbler has sympathy for the idea of a Federal Criminal Police Office. But it will depend on the implementation. “What is needed is a triad of highly qualified personnel, an excellent IT infrastructure and corresponding decision-making powers,” he said. In Germany, around 100 billion euros are laundered every year and “significant financial crime” takes place. “This must not go on like this.”
Joint counter-terrorism center as a model for information exchange
The Union also supports Lindner’s plans. “Our capabilities for complex financial investigations are nowhere near the level of a modern industrialized country,” said the domestic policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, Alexander Throm (CDU), the Handelsblatt. In this respect, it is good that Lindner finally wants to tackle the construction sites that Olaf Scholz left behind as the former Federal Minister of Finance.
A specialized authority could definitely be expedient, said Throm. “What is decisive, however, is that the traffic light finally gets going and creates clear competencies here.” Duplicate structures with the federal police, customs, the Federal Criminal Police Office or the federal states are “to be avoided at all costs”.
In order to enable a quick and direct exchange of information between all relevant actors, Köbler suggested using the Joint Counter-Terrorism Center (GTAZ) as a guide. A total of 40 authorities from the police and intelligence services work together in the GTAZ in Berlin and exchange information in daily briefings.
“That could really serve as a model because it really brings together many areas that are urgently needed,” said Köbler. Of course, it is important that the tax administration is included in such a cooperation platform. “Because that’s where the most extensive data on payment flows and assets is bundled.”
Köbler sees the legislature being called upon to do something else in another area. “For example, a cash limit, i.e. a maximum limit for cash payments, must finally be introduced in Germany, too,” he said.
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Berlin’s Senator for Finance, Daniel Wesener, also advocates this. “We have to consistently fight money laundering like all other illegal practices in payment transactions,” said the Green politician to the Handelsblatt. “Germany is last in the EU here and has thus become a playground for dodgy players – as we can observe on the Berlin real estate market.”
There is therefore no longer any conclusive reason why large payments in business transactions should be processed in cash. “If we stick to it, we’ll make it easier for criminals to do their job,” said Wesener.
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