Warning over money laundering in casinos
Irish casinos could be used for money laundering and terrorist financing due to a lack of regulation, an international task force warned tonight.
There are more than 40 casinos around the country, including Dermot Desmond’s recently opened Sporting Emporium in Dublin.
The Financial Action Task Force said the casinos fell outside the scope of anti-money laundering provisions in the Criminal Justice Act.
“This lack of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism requirements for the gaming sector was a matter of concern for the evaluation team,” it said.
Although casinos have been banned since 1956, a legal loophole allows private clubs to offer gaming.
The Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), which is the main international anti-money laundering organisation, found that Ireland had a sound legal framework in place to combat the problem but said the number of convictions for money laundering was somewhat low.
Between 2001 and 2004, eight people were convicted of money laundering and were given jail sentences ranging from two to five years. No-one has yet been prosecuted for the offence of terrorist financing, which was introduced last year.
The FAFT report said that credit institutions, money remittance companies, solicitors, accountants and second hand car dealerships had all been used in money laundering schemes.
The flow of money which needs to be laundered comes from drug dealing, fraud, tax evasion and criminal activities by paramilitary gangs.
The FAFT report recommended that more controls should be put in place, pointing to the fact that in 2004, only 1% of all suspicious transaction reports were made by companies in the non-financial sector.
It also made nine special recommendations including the imposition of more controls to stop terrorist financing.
Finance Minister Brian Cowen and Justice Minister Michael McDowell said they were satisfied at the country’s compliance rating with the FATF’s tough new standards.
They pledged to further strengthen Ireland’s anti-money laundering mechanisms and added that many of report’s recommendations would be addressed when the third EU Money Laundering Directive was transposed into Irish law.
