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The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real estate investments

2023-04-04 19:16:41Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

 

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real
The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022

 

At least eight are the typologies built by the General Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering during 2022 that have been suspected as forms of money laundering in the country.

The annual report of this directorate reveals that most of the typologies are basically investments in real estate, where there are at least three related to them, but there are also suspicions about the use of public funds, suspicious transfers also connected to criminal groups.

Të gjitha këto tipologji të hasura janë dërguar pranë autoriteteve përkatëse nga ana e kësaj drejtorie për t’u hetuar dhe për të dalë më pas në përfundime më të sakta mbi atë se çfarë përfaqësojnë.

Vetë Drejtoria e Parandalimit të Pastrimit të parave ka shoqëruar këto tipologji me skema dhe ka sqaruar se emrat e përdorur janë fiktivë dhe nuk lidhen me emra personash apo subjektesh konkret. Më poshtë tipologjitë dhe skemat e zbardhura në raportin vjetor të DPPPP sa i takon pastrimit të parave në 2022.

“Dyshime lidhur me përdorimin e fondeve publike”

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Citizen X creates his company 'DEF', with the object of activity "trading, production of various livestock products". The company "DEF" further applied for financing from Public Institution "B" for the development of its activity. After the approval of the application, it becomes possible to transfer funds in the amount of EUR 300,000 to the account of the entity "DEF", at a second level bank.

After crediting the funds, citizen X (her partner) transfers most of the funds from his company account to his personal account, with the final aim of investing in real estate.

Specifically, citizen X has signed the contract of sale of real estate with the company "ABC" of citizen Y.

Taking into consideration the use of funds not in accordance with the stated purpose, further verifications were carried out from which it turned out that:

Based on the above, the case has been sent for further investigation to the law enforcement bodies.

"High investment in real estate with unknown source of funds"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Citizen X, appears at a second level bank and declares that she is waiting for transfers from the foreign company "DEF", registered in a European country "V". The transfers were justified by means of a loan agreement, according to which citizen X would borrow the sum of 600,000 Euros. Considering the high value claimed, as well as the lack of clear economic justification for this loan, further verifications were carried out.

From these verifications, it turned out that citizen X, based in Albania, was not employed and in recent months had signed several real estate sales contracts, in the capacity of the buyer, and appeared to be involved in foreign contractual relations with different citizens.

It also turned out that citizen X was found to have family ties with citizens E, F, H for whom there were negative data for involvement in drug trafficking, in several European countries, including in the place of registration of the foreign company "DEF ".

Subsequently, the cooperation of the counterparts in the "V" state was also requested, from which the data with doubts also related to the profile of the foreign company resulted.

"Deposits from a foreign PEP"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Foreign citizen A from a European country, in 2020, made deposits in the amount of USD 280,000 in her bank account with a second-tier bank in the country. From the verifications carried out, it turned out that citizen A was a foreign PEP and the funds were physically transported by declaring at the entrance of the Border Crossing Point in Albania, as funds from family savings.

Almost a year later, citizen A transfers most of the funds in favor of a construction company in our country, in order to order a real estate of the "villa" type in a coastal city, against a purchase price equal to the deposited amount from her.

From further verifications with our counterparts, it turned out that citizen A until the first months of 2021 exercised a high state function, in her country of origin, and is under investigation for money laundering and bribery charges. Citizen A has visited our country several times, even in the position of an official, before she decided to invest in real estate.

It was noticed that the deposits in our country coincide in value and period with the funds for which the citizen is under accusation from the foreign country.

The case was sent to law enforcement for further investigation.

"Suspicious transfers"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Citizen A together with citizen B (family relationship between them) and citizen X have invested in real estate in the amount of 400,000 Euros. Also, citizen A in this period appears to have signed several notarial deeds for the sale/purchase of vehicles below the market value.

Regarding the source of funds, it turns out that citizens A and B during the years 2017-2022 have benefited in their accounts a high number of transfers from abroad, in total about 1,800,000 Euros, mainly with a description for consulting services, some of which were ordered by "tax haven" countries. Regarding the way of using the funds received from abroad, it is noted that a large part has been withdrawn.

Based on the high values ​​of transfers on arrival followed by cash withdrawals, further verifications were carried out, which resulted in the fact that citizen A for the first time registered private activity in our country in 2019, with the object of activity: consulting services. From the further verifications carried out, it turned out that citizen X has previously been convicted of human trafficking.

"High investment in real estate with unknown source of funds"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Citizens X and Y own a large number of immovable properties for which we do not have information about the way of earning them and the source of income.

After the verifications carried out based on the above anomaly, it turned out that the citizens have had registered activity since 2013 in the field of services, which activity continued for 8 years and was then suspended. The declared profits have been very low, reaching the maximum value of 500,000 Lek per year, as well as in some cases with losses.

Taking into consideration the low income realized over the years by citizens X and Y and the lack of information on how to acquire ownership even after the verifications carried out, for a high number of immovable properties, the case was sent for further investigation to law enforcement bodies.

"Transfers through transfer companies linked to suspicions of illegal immigration"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

The AB citizen born in 2003 has benefited from 8 transfers in the months of September-October 2022 from an EU country, known as a country in a geographical position, which offers transit opportunities for illegal immigrants. The senders of these transfers are different persons from countries with a risk of illegal immigration and the values ​​sent vary from 1,200 to 5,700 EUR. The declarations regarding the purpose of these transfers are that the money is sent for the purpose of economic assistance from the citizen's friends and the source of this income is from their work.

From the verifications carried out in relation to the Albanian citizen AB, who had benefited around EUR 21,000, no bank account data or other financial transactions carried out by him were found. He was also not found to be employed or to have any known connection with the senders of the transfers. No information about the beneficiaries was found in our reports or in open sources.

But from open sources it turns out that there are negative findings about the AB citizen and his family members, specifically about his brother and uncle, who were caught red-handed during the crossing of illegal immigrants at the border.

Based on these negative findings, we requested information and were informed by the law enforcement bodies that the citizens (the AB citizen and his family members) had precedents for the criminal offense of 'Aiding illegal border crossing' according to Article 298/3 of the Criminal Code.

Based on suspicious transactions and negative findings for citizens, the information was sent for further investigation to law enforcement agencies.

"Suspicious transfers from a suspected narcotics trafficking network, through transfer companies"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

The foreign citizen DE has registered in our country in April 2022 a company 'X', the object of which consists in the 'retail and wholesale trade of all industrial products, construction materials, agricultural and food products, land transport of national and international goods etc'.

The DE citizen and his EU citizen brother have carried out a high number of monetary transfers of about 40 such through a transfer company, both as sender and beneficiary, during the years 2018-2022. The transfer values ​​range from EUR 50 to EUR 3,380 to or towards different nationals, mostly foreigners. The transfers were carried out for the most part to the 'Y' state of the EU, known as one of the countries with risk in terms of drug trafficking.

From the verifications in our data, there were no financial transactions made by these citizens, and one of them, a DE citizen, is employed in the commercial activity registered by him, but there were no financial transactions made on account of this activity from April to end of 2022.

From research in open sources, it turned out that the two brothers, citizens with generalities DE and BE, have been arrested in our country under the charge of international drug trafficking in the state 'Y', which is also their country of origin. Yes, from open sources it appeared that in this organized network of narcotics trafficking there were also other collaborators, among them the AF citizen working in a law enforcement body of our country.

Even the citizen (AF) turns out to have made several other transfers with Albanian citizens and foreigners in the same period, with values ​​from 150 EUR to 1,500 EUR, in the direction of several other countries inside and outside the EU.

For the above, based on the unjustified transfers from the business, their financial profile or other possible connections identified for them, as well as negative findings from open sources, the case has been sent for further investigation to the law enforcement bodies. .

"Investments in real estate and commercial activities by persons involved in criminal activity"

The eight schemes how money was laundered in Albania during 2022 dominate real

Albanian citizen X, for whom there is evidence that he is involved in illegal activities such as exploitation of prostitution and drug trafficking, during the last 5 years has registered several commercial activities that operate in sectors such as: construction, hydrocarbons, hotels - tourism, etc.

From the data we have, it appears that citizen X cooperates mostly with his family members and their social connections (some of whom have previously been arrested in a Latin American country) to carry out criminal activity, and the income generated by illegal activity, the citizen invests in commercial activities and real estate in different cities of Albania, mainly in coastal countries.

Based on the high investments in real estate and commercial entities, we continued with further investigation of the case, from which it turned out that:

is also accused of carrying weapons without a permit, fraud, etc.) with the aim of investing in real estate.

The loan was taken without interest and without a repayment period, based on mutual recognition between the parties.

Meanwhile, from the verifications carried out for his commercial entities, it was found that:

- In general, the trading companies of citizen X during the period of operation have declared losses. Even 2 of them, which resulted in high profits, did not distribute these profits, but kept them as a reserve for later investments.

- Citizen X has declared annual personal income for almost 10 years and the main sources of his income have been declared: capital gains from investments in titles and real estate or from the sale of the latter, rents and wages.

- However, it was concluded that the recorded financial results of citizen X do not justify the transactions and investments made.

Taking into consideration:

The case was sent to law enforcement for further investigation. / Si Newspaper

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