Aug 04 2009 Martin Coyle
Instances of money laundering have more than doubled in Sweden over the past year, according to figures released by the country's financial police force, Finanspolisen.
Over the past year 13,048 instances of suspected money laundering amounting to €818m were reported to the police. Of these 7,232 were reported by banks, up from 1,310 in 2007. The Finanspolisen said that the jump in cases was largely a result of banks putting in place more effective systems and ramping up their detection efforts over the past year. Financial intermediaries also stepped up their reporting efforts, while police were finding it easier to investigate internet-based crimes. Despite this, the police noted that cash-based businesses, such as casinos and real estate brokers, were not filing as many reports as could be suspected, leading to suspicions that more money laundering was occurring than reported.
Sweden recently implemented the Third Money Laundering Directive.
