By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
The country’s financial watchdog has disseminated 52 intelligence disclosures to various law enforcement agencies between July and September 2022, highlighting potential financial criminal activities in the country’s financial system, encompassingfraud, potential tax evasion, and illegal deposits.
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) issued its quarterly report for July-September 2022, which was released in December.
The report is meant to communicate relevant statistics on the operation of Namibia’s national Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation (AML/CFT/CPF) framework.
These redflags have been fished from various Suspicious Transaction and Activity Reports submitted by 1 463 active entities registered as Accountable and Reporting Institutions by the FIC.
In the reporting period, the FIC disseminated 52 disclosures to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) which is an increase when compared to the 28 disclosures of the previous quarter.
Potential tax related offences featured as the leading predicate offence (200) followed by fraud (12) and then the Contravention of the BIA – Illegal Deposit Taking (11).
Potential tax related offences need Namibia Revenue Agency’s (NamRa) confirmation to determine certainty as statistics herein are limited to FIC analysis and dissemination.
The FIC analysis also indicate that NamRa received the highest number of disclosures (20) in the period under review, followed by the Bank of Namibia (BoN) and the Namibia Police Force with 13 SDs.
Disclosures to NamRA are on account of potential tax evasion and such related irregularities that may have been observed.
While disclosures to the BoN are primarily around potential contraventions of the Banking Institutions Act (BIA) and/or the Exchange Control Rulings and Regulations, theFIC explained.
The number of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) filed by AIs and RIs during the period under review increased significantly to 320 STRs when compared to 267 and 283 STRs received during the previous quarter and the same quarter of the 2021/2022 fiscal year, respectively.
The banking sector continued to file the highest volume of STRs in both periods (quarters) followed by Authorised Dealers with Limited Authority (ADLAs).
In this quarter, the FIC analysed 18% of the STRs filed, a decrease from the 22% recorded during the previous quarter.
The reports escalated for further analysis led to actionable intelligence being forwarded to relevant Law Enforcement Agencies for further processing, including investigation.
Effective and efficient analysis of the reports is what leads to tip offs or intelligence disclosures.
In the current quarter, the FIC received a total of 62 suspicious actions reports (SARs) from Accountable and Reporting entities.
In the two quarters, the banking sector filed most of the SARs among all sectors, a total of 108 reports.
Between July and September 2022, 15% of the SARs filed were escalated for further analysis.
The FIC has also received requests for intelligence from domestic and international law enforcement regarding operations/transactions within the country’s financial system.
The number of requests received totalled for the three-month period stood at 62 from domestic agencies- incoming requests reflect stakeholders searching for information/assistance from the FIC.
Between July-September 2022, together with other law enforcement, the FIC has issued asset recovery intervention orders.
For period 1 intervention/restriction order was issued involving a total amount of N$ 113 673.60.
FIC explained that the Receiver of Revenue’s Tax Assessment outcomes (by NamRa) emanating from the FIC’s Spontaneous Disclosures were not included in this report as part of the interventions.
Additionally, preservations and forfeitures as a result of such disclosures disseminated by the FIC to the Office of the Prosecutor General were also not included in this report.
During the same period, the FIC has conducted 5 and 8 on-site and off-site assessment activities, respectively.
Accordingly, banks, customs clearing and forwarding agencies, motor vehicle dealers and non-profit organisations are considered high-risk sectors for potential money laundering.
The FIC is Namibia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) established in terms of the Financial Intelligence Act and is empowered to, amongst others, collect, request, receive and analyse suspicious reports relating to ML/TF/PF and further share actionable intelligence obtained from such activities with identified stakeholders as per the FIA. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
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