Special unit:How does the FIU work?
The special unit of the Customs Criminal Police Office is supposed to track down money laundering. Your task is to pass on relevant suspicious activity reports to the state criminal investigation offices.
By Markus Zydra, Frankfurt
The Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU for short, is Germany’s central collection point for reports of suspected money laundering. In 2020, a total of 144,000 reports were received there. The almost 400 employees of the FIU are supposed to sift through this group. Software is used for this. It is mainly banks that report – for example if they suspect a transfer, for example due to the amount of the amount or the country of destination. The bank can stop the payment process for a maximum of three days. During this time, the FIU must decide whether to forward the case to the responsible State Office of Criminal Investigation. If law enforcement officers initiate investigations into suspected money laundering or terrorist financing, payment may be suspended for longer. Often banks do not report their suspicions until the transfer has already been made. In addition to the financial sector, real estate agents, casinos, notaries, lawyers, jewelers, precious metal dealers and car dealers must report if they suspect a business. This obligation is regulated in the Money Laundering Act. The FIU was created in 2001 after the terrorist attacks in New York under pressure from the USA. The authority was initially located at the Federal Criminal Police Office and was subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Under pressure from the former Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), the anti-money laundering authority was relocated to the non-specialist customs in 2017 – against the resistance of many experts. The German FIU is a member of the Egmont Group. The committee with 167 participating FIUs coordinates the international exchange of information on money laundering cases.