Over 400,000 suspected money laundering cases reported

March 2, 2017

TOKYO- The number of suspected money laundering cases reported by banks and others in Japan in 2016 rose 0.4 pct from the previous year to a record 401,091, the National Police Agency saidThursday.

The growth is apparently a result of efforts by major banks to fight money laundering, including the introduction of systems to detect illegal transactions and an increase in the number of staff concerned, an NPA official said.

Of the total, police across the country took action against 1,091 cases, nearly unchanged from 2015, according to the NPA. Of the total cases handled by the police, 85 pct were linked to fraud, such as an illegal acquisition of bankbooks. They also included 41 cases related to drugs and five cases linked to illegal gambling. Jiji Press