$106m tainted for possible laundering

The Financial Intelligence Unit last year ascertained $106,155,931 as possible tainted money was available for laundering in Fiji’s financial systems.

This raw information was disseminated to the law enforcement institutions by the Unit for investigations.

This was revealed by the FIU Director Razim Buksh during an Anti-Money laundering webinar this week run by the Pacific Islands News Association- The Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists’ Network.

Mr Buksh highlighted that half of the money, about $54m was going to tax as possible tax evasion.

The Unit he said disseminated 270 cases to law enforcement agencies last year.

These include:

128 cases to Fiji Revenue and Customs Service Tax Division for possible tax violations 67 to the Fiji Police Force for serious crime acts

10 to immigration department for possible violation of immigration act

5 to FRCS – Customs division

60 others

Mr Buksh revealed a few of the ongoing cases that were intercepted by the unit and were under investigation by relevant authorities.

Taveuni Case

From December 2019 to April 2020, 73 Fijians conducted 163 remittance transactions to 41 cybercriminal individuals in Benin.

Mr Buksh said the transaction amounted to $98,658.

He said these Fijians were lured by one individual and most of them were from Taveuni Island. They were scammed into believing that they would be getting some reward, parcels and funds but there were none.

He said because of this case, no transaction is going into Benin unless it is approved by the FIU.

“It’s a very complicated and a very powerful tool that we used and that is to minimise the adverse impact of additional Fijians falling victims to scams,” he said.

“These are the things that are happening on the grounds. We have seen the amount of Fijians that have fallen victims to this.”

Senior public servant case:

Mr Buksh highlighted another case that was disseminated to Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption last year.

He said a senior public servant in his role as a decision maker and assessor was able to acquire assets and was living a luxurious life that did not commensurate with his earning capacity.

He was a frequent traveller abroad most times flying business class with his family. The person was buying vehicles without any credit backing or financial loans. The person was involved in a series of transactions buying properties and then paying off loans quickly.

Investigation is ongoing by the anticorruption agency on this case.

Real Estate case

Another case involved a real estate agency. This matter was reported by a real estate firm to FIU as a suspicious transaction report. It involves $2.8million. It was a big money laundering racket where the transaction was done in the same country but to a third person. This was intercepted in Fiji.

FIU has used its powers together with the powers of the court to put a temporary freeze of the $2.8m while the case is being investigated.

Meanwhile, Mr Buksh said the large amount of money available in Fiji for laundering and corruption was a concern. However, FIU has strategies in place to monitor illegal transactions and protect the Fijian people from being victimsof such crimes.