Germany, a safe haven for money laundering *

Deutsche Welle 30.10.2012:

Money laundering as an organized crime is increasingly becoming a problem in Germany, says a new report by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). But fighting money launderers has proven to be difficult.
About 13,000 cases of suspected money laundering were reported last year; in half of the cases, authorities later confirmed their initial suspicions.

That's a record high since 1993, when Germany's Anti-Money Laundering Act came into effect. From then on, banks had to report large transactions to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
According to the BKA's report, transactions from Italy, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus caught the investigators' attention. In addition to real estate agents, restaurant and amusement arcade owners, it appears to have also become common among individuals, to allow criminals to use their bank accounts for money laundering purposes.

[full article in English]