May 19 2008 Helen O'Gorman
A survey of banks in Spain's Valencia region revealed an average of 160 suspicious transactions identified per month, the president of Alicante's provisional high court has told the press.
The Spanish judge and top regional prosecutor met representatives from nine financial services firms and savings banks to finalise a new anti-money laundering protocol for practitioners and the police. Each bank in the province sends between one and four STRs per month to the Servicio Especial para la Prevencion de Blanqueos de Capitales, the financial intelligence unit. Most of the reports are connected to organised drug trafficking groups. The Spanish state security service follows up 80 per cent of cases reported.
Banks want to use the protocol to establish a series of recommendations that will help to avoid crime and improve AML. The regional court, the Audiencia Provincial, will edit the recommendations and the police commission will approve the document before the next meeting of the AML stakeholders on June 13.
The final version of the changes will be forwarded to the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Hacienda for inclusion in a reform of anti-money laundering laws. The reform should add more definition to rules about documentation, cash withdrawals and predicate crimes.
The ministry wants to establish which pieces of documentation are needed to open an account and to carry out international bank transfers. The government aims to provide more information on the necessary requirements to withdraw money from an account and the maximum threshold for cash transfers into foreign countries. Prosecutors also want to clarify the criteria for bringing suspects to trial for money laundering without a predicate crime, such as drug trafficking.
