June 18 - Every year, billions of euros are laundered by criminals all over the world, including here in the EU. In a few short years, multiple revelations and scandals have shown the outrageous ways that criminals use our financial system and find manoeuvring space within our laws to hide money away from the police and tax collectors. A chain of companies and trusts are set up, allowing the criminal space to conceal their activities. Transparency is therefore essential in shining a light on the anonymous shell companies and trusts hiding the identity of those who ultimately benefit.

June 18 - Government authorities have carried out an on-site inspection of an Auckland company to make sure it's upholding its obligations under anti-money laundering laws. Denton Morrell has been identified as helping to manage a network of New Zealand-registered businesses and trusts for clients linked to international companies suspected of money-laundering.

June 15 - Malaysian authorities investigating scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) are considering charging former prime minister Najib Razak with money laundering and misappropriation of property, a source familiar with the matter said. Najib, who founded 1MDB in 2009, is the subject of a money laundering and corruption probe, after reports that millions of dollars made their way into his personal bank accounts from the fund and its former subsidiary, SRC International. The former premier has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB.

June 14 - The European Union should play a bigger role in helping national authorities fight money laundering, according to the government of Denmark. Danish lawmakers are trying to figure out how the country’s biggest bank became a hub for financial crime after it emerged that billions in illicit funds were allegedly funneled from Russia, Moldova and Azerbaijan through a Danske Bank A/S unit in Estonia over a period of several years through 2014.

June 13 - There should be a serious overhaul of the way anti-money laundering rules are supervised. The call has come from Transparency International after it emerged that HMRC is considering ending its role as the anti-money laundering regulator of sectors including estate agents.

June 12 - War profiteers, terror financiers and drug traffickers sanctioned by the U.S. in recent years have used Dubai's real-estate market as a haven for their assets, a new report released Tuesday alleges. The report by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defence Studies, relying on leaked property data from the city-state, offers evidence to support the long-whispered rumours about Dubai's real-estate boom. It identifies some $100 million in suspicious purchases of apartments and villas across the city of skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, where foreign ownership fuels construction that now outpaces local demand.

June 11 - On June 9, Canada's Department of Finance released a draft of official regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges and payment processors. According to the draft, these regulations are in response to "a number of deficiencies" found in a 2015-2016 evaluation of Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime (AML/ATF) conducted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that tackles money laundering. Regulatory changes were also necessary to adhere to 2014 and 2017 legislative standards that addressed money laundering and terrorist financing.