Raid on German ministries in money laundering investigation | Financial

At the same time, in a year-long investigation, the prosecutor accuses the ministries of ‘frustrating’ investigations into criminal offenses, it was reported on Thursday.

According to Handelsblatt, the action is again aimed at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a special unit of the customs authorities that had to tackle money laundering. This has been investigated for some time, as have the connections with the ministries.

According to a spokesman for the public prosecutor, it concerns ‘suspected criminal offenses’ and the individual responsibilities of officials, he says. ‘It must be investigated whether and to what extent the management and those in charge of the ministries and higher departments are involved in the decisions of the FIU.’

Reputation Scholz

The investigated ministries are said to have failed to properly forward money laundering reports from banks worth millions of euros to investigative services.

The raid started early on Thursday morning, the Osnabrück prosecutor’s office reported after reports in Der Spiegel.

The raid affects the reputation of Finance Minister Scholz, candidate for the SPD to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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