The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has published a strategic analysis paper, “The Landscape of Organised Crime in Malta: An FIAU Perspective”, examining suspicious activity reports linked to organised crime between 2021 and 2024.
The study is based on the analysis of 540 suspicious reports connected to organised crime and highlights key trends, reporting patterns, predicate offences and money laundering indicators identified by the FIAU.
Among the key findings:
- Remote Gaming Operators were the largest reporting sector, accounting for 31% of organised crime-related reports, followed by Credit Institutions (17%).
- The FIAU made 185 disseminations to the Malta Police Force and 494 disseminations to foreign counterparts in relation to organised crime intelligence.
- Common red flags identified included adverse media, unknown source of funds/source of wealth, suspicious transactional activity, uncooperative customers, and beneficial ownership concealment.
- The most common suspected predicate offences linked to international organised crime groups were drug trafficking, fraud, robbery and theft, while tax evasion, fraud and drug trafficking featured prominently in relation to domestic organised crime groups.
The FIAU noted that the publication is intended to raise awareness of money laundering trends, typologies and indicators associated with organised crime and encourages reporting entities to take these findings into consideration when identifying and reporting suspicious activity.
The full paper can be found on the FIAU website here.