At the Money Laundering Secretariat under Søik – the Public Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime – a total of 73,249 notifications about this type of economic crime landed during 2020.
This is a record number. In fact, the highest number ever, according to the secretariat’s annual report. This is stated by the prosecution in a press release.
Just five years ago, there were 18,669 notifications throughout 2016.
On average, 200 tips flowed in every single day last year. Once they have landed on one of the secretariat’s tables, the notifications are sorted and analyzed before being forwarded to the police, the Tax Administration or another authority.
The term “money laundering” covers various financial maneuvers. They have the common feature of making money from crime look like they are legal.
A total of 19,756 tips were passed on and thus assessed as useful in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, drug trafficking, tax fraud and other forms of fraud with public funds and economic crime.
It is also the highest number ever. However, some of them may be notifications from previous years.
Special notices of possible money laundering filled the piles. They accounted for 94 percent of the total tips.
But suspicion of possible terrorist financing has also required more resources than before.
In just five years, the number of notifications to Søik – also called the Bagmandspolitiet – about possible terrorist financing has tripled.
During the last year, 494 messages about possible terrorist financing came to the secretariat. In 2016, the number was 169. This was stated in January by figures sent from the Ministry of Justice to the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee.