One Namibian and 11 foreign nationals were convicted for fraud and money laundering crimes during the 2020/21 financial year, securing N.dollars 24 million for State coffers.
This is according to the chairperson of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorist and Proliferation (AML/CFTP) Council and Governor of the Bank of Namibia Johannes !Gawaxab, who was speaking during the virtual launch of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) 2020/21 annual report on Thursday.
The FIC resorts under the Bank of Namibia and was established in accordance with the Financial Intelligence Act of 2012 (Act No. 13 of 2012). FIC reports on the delivery of its statutory mandate to the Minister of Finance through the AML/CFTP.
While delivering his statement during the virtual ceremony, !Gawaxab also said 16 intervention orders involving 20 accounts to the value of N.dollars 5 million were issued and preservation of N.dollars 17 million in cash and eight vehicles valued at N.dollars 2 million were also recorded during the 2020/21 financial year, while provisional restraint orders estimated at N.dollars 600 million for corruption, fraud and money laundering were secured by the Prosecutor-General.
He further said that N.dollars 13.8 billion potential proceeds of crime were analysed, compared to N.dollars 17 billion in 2019/20, however clarifying that these are not confirmed proceeds of crime as this can either be proved or disproved by further investigations, enquiries and court processes.
Moreover, reporting of suspicious transactions increased by 36 per cent and suspicious activity reports from financial institutions declined by 15.8 per cent.
“During the period under review, we saw a record number of 1 585 suspicious transaction reports, 177 suspicious activity reports and 960 additional information files; all which marks a 31.5 per cent increase over the number recorded in 2019/20,” he said.
Additionally, the number of requests for information from law enforcement agencies grew from 75 to 80 in 2020/21, !Gawaxab said, adding that following analysis and evaluations of these requests as well as the reports, 435 intelligence disclosures were made to various law enforcement agencies for further investigations, which represents a 26 per cent increase from 344 reports and requests recorded during the previous financial year.
“Our analytical outputs continue to be impactful and have contributed intelligence to assist law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of denying suspected criminals from the fruits of their crimes,” he said.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
