After the collapse of the traffic light coalition, a project to combat money laundering remains on the track. The Federal Ministry of Finance informed the Funke Media Group (Friday editions) that “there will be no establishment of a federal agency to combat financial crime (BBF) now.”
A ministry spokesperson emphasized that “work on the planned federal high authority will not continue from now on.” The “BBF project” will be “wrapped up with a significantly reduced number of employees” the spokesperson said, adding that the ministry is dissolving the team previously assigned to the federal agency.
In the summer of 2022, the then Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner (FDP), announced the establishment of a federal financial criminal agency to advance the fight against illegal money laundering in Germany. A corresponding law to improve the fight against financial crime had envisioned the establishment of a new federal high authority in the fight against organized criminals. The bill has not been debated in the Bundestag so far.
With the end of the federal government consisting of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, it now appears that Lindner’s project has also come to an end. Among experts, Germany is considered a “paradise for money laundering” with an estimated 100 billion euros of dirty money being washed annually.
In an internal strategy paper, cited by the Funke newspapers, customs experts of the Police Union now hold that it would be “more intelligent and effective to significantly strengthen the joint financial investigation group of customs and the BKA.” The GdP, in turn, suggests setting up the previously existing Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the customs as an independent and, above all, isolated authority and building it into a genuine, self-contained intelligence service in the fight against financial criminals.