Algeria initiates 482 money laundering cases

Money laundering cases broke the record in Algeria from June 2009 to January 2010. Their number went up by 55 percent compared to the last five years, said an official at the finance ministry.

• The Police have initiated 482 money laundering cases have been initiated since 2005 while billions of Algerian Dinars may have been laundered, the same source told Echorouk.
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• The suspicious cases are related to foreign corporations’ commercial transactions operating in Algeria along with private national companies. Their number is estimated at 94,438.
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• The official said any suspicious transaction was detected among public companies expect that of Algeria’s oil group Sonatrach which is in the process of investigation.
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• Algeria has been a founding member in the Middle East & North Africa Financial Action Task Force since January 2009.
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• Laundered money is mainly transferred to Europe especially to Switzerland, France, Britain as well as Arab countries including United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to the same source.
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• Algeria signed about 20 information exchange agreement on money laundering and terrorism funding. It works with France, Belgium, Switzerland, Lebanon and Senegal.
• It also signed agreements with Canada and the United States.