The latest report issued by the Financial Investigation Unit revealed that the number of notifications received by Kuwait regarding suspicions of money laundering and terrorist financing doubled during the Corona period, reaching about 2413 notifications during 2020/2021, an increase of 128%, including an additional 1354 notifications, compared to about 1059 notification during the previous year.
The highest percentage of notifications of money laundering and terrorism financing came from banks, which accounted for 67% of the total notifications during the year, with 1,623 notifications, an increase of 128%, with 910 notifications, compared to the previous year, in which bank notifications amounted to 713 notifications, while the exchange companies sector dissolved As the second sector with the highest notification of suspicions, it submitted 776 notifications, followed by investment companies with 14 notifications, reports Al-Anba daily.
The Financial Investigation Agency requested information, data and documents 198 times from 5 government institutions and notified agencies to enhance the information it receives from the notified authorities and to enable it to reach a decision considering the information received as amounting to reasonable evidence of suspicion.
At the top of the entities that most received requests from the unit to provide information was the Ministry of the Interior, which received 73 requests in 2018, followed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which was requested to provide information 46 times, then the Ministry of Justice, which received 42 requests to provide information, followed by the General Administration of Customs, which was requested to provide information 22 times. Then the Kuwait Clearing Company, from which information was requested 13 times.
The latest report of the Financial Investigation Unit showed that financial brokerage firms, dealers in precious metals and precious stones, and real estate agents did not submit any notifications of money laundering suspicions during the reporting period, and that the notifications came from only 3 parties, namely banks, exchange companies, and investment companies.
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