Money laundering: a suspicious 643 billion MGA

It is usually hard to distinguish between dirty money and decently-earned money, and money has no smell. However, the National Financial Intelligence Service (Samifin) smells a rat in business and financial environment of the country. In fact, the General Manager of Samifin, Dr Razaranaina Jean-Claude, allegedly reported that a huge sum of money, about 643 billion MGA, has been suspected for four years now to have come from a circuit of money laundering.

Jean-Claude Razaranaina declared the existence of this suspicious money on Wednesday, August 22, during the signing of the cooperation agreement between Samifin and the State Secretary of the Gendarmerie. In addition, Jean-Claude Razaranaina also announced that some forms of terrorist funding definitely exist in Madagascar. According to him, “the manifestation of such activity consists of swelling the budget accounts of organizations appearing on the United Nations’ black list. We already have that list and what we do now is watching over any transfer of funds on the accounts of those organizations.” On the other hand, the General Manager of Samifin deplored the complexity of their mission due mainly to the non passing of the law tending to fight against terrorism funding. Still according to the General Manager, this law, having been presented for a long time, is still studied by the Executive authority.