Thousands of suspicious transactions reported to authorities

Forty-four and a half thousand suspicious transactions have been reported by financial institutions to the Financial Intelligence Centre since it was established in February 2003. Almost twenty thousand of these reports were made this year. FIC director Murray Michell says these suspicious transactions are analysed by the centre’s experts and if appropriate are then referred to the police or the scorpions for further investigation. Michell insists that compliance needs to be improved and this year the centre’s fire will concentrate on estate agents and the casino and gambling sector.