“COLOMBIA IS THE NUMBER ONE SOURCE OF MONEY LAUNDERING FROM DRUGS”
FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner ~ Financial Crime Consultant for WANTED SA ~
Friday January 21, 2011 >
WANTED SA has learned this morning that money laundering operations in Colombia involving funds from drug-trafficking amounts to over $ 9 Billion US Dollars per year, authorities said this Thirsday.
There were more than 42,000 suspicious operations from January 2006-December 2010, according to the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF) of the Ministry of Finance.
A figure for the underground economy was calculated based on the behavior of criminals on a global scale, said UIAF director Luis Edmundo Suarez.
Money laundering distorts the economy and pushes up inflation so that the whole country pays 'a tax created by criminals,' he said.
'This illegal business has professionals who work for them permanently, as they would for any investor, advising on whether they should invest in stock, in fuel, wherever we give them the chance,' Suarez explained.
Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and the Republic of Panama is the number one destination for the drug related money which is invested into real estate developments through unscrupulous middle groups that profit from the criminal activities.
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