The number of money laundering reports received by the Belgian authorities surged by almost 50% in 2023, as the State is grappling with a growing number of professional money laundering schemes that are funnelling the proceeds of drug trafficking.
According to its latest annual report, the Financial Information Processing Unit (CTIF) received a total of 79,211 reports of potential money laundering activity last year, including suspicious transactions and funds, as well as information from foreign counterparts and government departments.
The independent authority, under the supervision of the Ministers for Justice and Finance, is charged with investigating reports of suspicious activity that could be linked to money laundering, as well as terrorism financing.
Some 63,753 of the reports received by CTIF last year were new cases, a 48% increase on the 42,970 new cases reported in 2022.
When cases show serious indications of money laundering activity, CTIF forwards the results of its investigations to the Belgian public prosecutors' offices.
Last year, the total monetary value of suspicious transactions reported to public prosecutors jumped from €1.62 billion to €2.43 billion, a 50% increase.
As reported by Belga, the spike in 2023 can be attributed to two factors, firstly being that banks are becoming more vigilant. By far the primary informers of Ctif, there was a more than 70% increase in the number of suspicion reports filed by banks between 2022 and 2023.
The second reason there was an increase in money laundering reports last year is due to the growth of drug trafficking in Belgium, which has led to the development of a flourishing professional money laundering industry.
Drug traffickers using professional money laundering networks
The report explains how the vast majority of income from drug trafficking in Belgium is being channeled through professional money laundering networks, rather than by the traffickers themselves.
The greatest challenge for CTIF, it says, is establishing a link between drug traffickers and the people involved in these laundering networks, as those involved generally use cash or underground criminal banking networks that operate outside of the legal financial system.
In a foreword to the CTIF annual report, chairman Philippe de Koster said that because if its central location in Europe Belgium has always dealt with international drug trafficking, but that the problem has become "more serious" in recent years.
He added that 2023 was "particularly marked" by the use of dormant companies by money laundering schemes.
"A growing number of cases involve shell companies and individuals who, in exchange for a commission on their 'money laundering services', use their expertise and infrastructure to give criminals' activities an appearance of legitimacy, while allowing them to remain in the shadows," said Mr de Koster.
"The schemes put in place by these 'money laundering professionals' rely on a constellation of companies and bank accounts, as well as a very large number of front men and mules, both in Belgium and abroad, making it possible to opacify the money laundering chains at every stage," he added.
He said that a number of measures have been taken to try to tackle the issue, including the delisting of a large number of dormant companies from the Crossroads Bank for Businesses.
