Financial Intelligence Unit forwarded 125 illicit money transfer files to Courts in ten years

The Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTRF) linked to Algeria’s finance Ministry has filed 125 dubious cases to the Courts since it began operations in 2005 to date, “Echorouk” learnt from this specialized body.

These cases relate, for the most part, to the suspicion of offenses to the legislation and the flow of capital to or from abroad including illicit transfers of capital, the CRTF unit said.

The vast majority of these cases stems from STRs submitted by Banks to the CTRF, while the rest comes from the Customs and the Bank of Algeria, knowing that this intelligence processing unit, linked to the Ministry of Finance, is not empowered to proceed by self-referral.

Until 2011, only three (3) money laundering cases were forwarded to the relevant Courts by the CTRF although the number of suspicious transaction reports sent to this unit reached 3,188 between 2007 and 2011 with a “peak” recorded in 2010 when the Bank of Algeria launched a wide cleansing operation within the banks and financial institution.

Since then, the prudence measures and control procedures laid down by the Bank of Algeria and the awareness-raising campaigns initiated by banks for selective transmission of statements to the CTRF excluding all operations unrelated to money laundering, have been duly enforced and this joint salutary endeavour has curtailed the number of STRs received by the CRTF cell.

But in 2015, the CTRF witnessed a hike in the number of STRs submitted by banks up to 1,290 statements against 661 declarations in 2014 and 582 in 2013.

This increase in the number of declarations “does not mean at all that the number of cases of money laundering has increased” in Algeria, explained the CTRF.

This situation is explained by “the desire of some financial institutions to strictly comply with the duty of  prudence, while some reported cases have no connection with money laundering,” the CTRF cell underscored to this effect.