The Financial Intelligence Unit has revealed that the estimated value of transactions suspected to be tainted and linked to predicate criminal offences and tax evasion was $252 million in 2022.
This was highlighted in the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit Annual Report for 2022 that was tabled in Parliament on Friday.
In the report Director FIU Razim Buksh said in 2022, the FIU continued to collect suspicious transactions and activities reports, analyse and further investigate and profile financial transaction, persons and assets and disseminate intelligence to relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution of money laundering and other predicate crimes.
Buksh said the FIU disseminated 519 financial intelligence reports to its partner law enforcement agencies that involved profiling and monitoring of 1,597 individuals and 276 entities.
“The Fiji Intelligence Unit currently has a data-set of about 26 million financial transaction records in its database that enables the FIU to monitor and profile individuals and businesses, and generate valuable, high quality financial intelligence to support domestic and foreign partners in their investigations,” Buksh said.
The Police, Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service are the key agencies that utilize and depend on the FIU’s financial intelligence.
In 2022, the Financial Transactions Reporting Act was amended to revise the cash transaction reporting requirements and introduce a new $5,000 threshold transaction reporting for the commercial banks.
These amendments further strengthen the data collected by the FIU.
