Banks, Financial Services, Latvia, Security

This is 2.8 times or EUR 137.5 mln more than in the first nine months of 2018.

In addition, six properties were seized in January-September this year, and 24 orders were issued to freeze financial instruments.

The Financial Intelligence Unit received 3,968 reports of suspicious transactions and 21,627 reports of unusual transactions in January-September.

The Financial Intelligence Unit also received 10 reports of possible terrorist financing instances and one report about possible proliferation financing.

In the first nine months of this year, the Financial Intelligence Unit sent 153 cases to law enforcement authorities for further investigation, an increase of 12% over same period of 2018. In 88 cases, the authorities initiated criminal proceedings.

According to the Financial Intelligence Unit, the most common predicate offenses in Latvia, which result in money laundering, are tax and economic offenses, as well as fraud and bribery.

In the first nine months of 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit also received 516 inquiries from foreign agencies and sent 627 inquiries to foreign financial units. The main countries of cooperation are Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.

The Financial Intelligence Unit noted that the results achieved so far show positive changes that are gradually entering the financial sector.