Money laundering, Russia sanctions and control of the financial sector – Christian Lindner wants to land a big hit with a new “Federal Financial Criminal Police Office”. In the future, forensic investigators will follow the money trail, promises the finance minister.
Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner wants to improve the fight against money laundering – and is ratcheting up expectations. The FDP politician said in Berlin that it’s about “the courage to make a big leap” and a fundamental change in structures. “We want to achieve internationally visible progress.” However, the project is still the subject of talks within the federal government, with the federal states and not least with the staff representatives of the authorities concerned.
Lindner had previously announced his plans in “Spiegel”. Accordingly, a new higher federal authority is to be set up with four pillars: On the one hand, Lindner plans to set up a “Federal Financial Criminal Police Office”. This should lead the investigations in particular in “complex financial crimes and money laundering”. The office should be “a forensic investigative agency that follows the money trail.”
In addition, the responsibility for the enforcement of sanctions should be bundled “in one place”, said Lindner. So far, the federal states have also been responsible for this. The minister named the “risk-based tracking of money laundering control reports” as the third pillar of his concept. This involves reports from banks, insurance companies or notaries about suspicious transactions. So far, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of customs has been responsible for this; According to Lindner, it is to be integrated into the new authority.
According to the minister, the fourth part of the project is a central office for “supervision of the non-financial sector”. As examples of this area, Lindner cited gaming libraries and the real estate industry, which are also used for money laundering. The federal government should coordinate the work of the technically responsible federal states and define standards.
“Our goal is to combat financial crime more effectively,” Lindner said in summary. According to some observers, Germany is a “paradise for money laundering,” he admitted. “We cannot be satisfied with that.” Financial crime is “not a trivial offense”. The previous “very complex and fragmented structure of authorities” hinders the effective fight against such machinations, said Lindner. “The big fish are swimming away from us.”
Lindner announced that he would set up a “project organization” in his ministry “in the next few days” to prepare for the establishment of the new federal authority. Talks within the federal government are already underway, and talks are also being held with the federal states and the responsible staff councils. Lindner described the initial feedback as “very encouraging”.
