Up to the start of 2011, the government unit meant to track and investigate signs of money-laundering had only two employees and it was only in the following two years that more staff was hired and its budget significantly increased, according to two reports tabled in Parliament.
The contents of the annual reports of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for the years 2011 and 2012 will likely add to opposition concerns that the government had not been serious about interdicting money-laundering and only took steps when it became clear that international sanctions were a distinct possibility.
Tabled on the same day that the anti-money laundering bill failed to win passage, the FIU report for 2011 stated that there were only two employees at the start of 2011, its Director Paul Geer and an administrative assistant. Analysts have queried in the past how the thinly staffed FIU could track down suspicious transactions for investigation. They have also
