Criminals are using more than 120 ways to launder money in Russia, financial monitoring officials said Thursday.
60 percent of illegal revenues are transferred into cash, according to official statistics. Viktor Zubkov, head of the Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service, said in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday that more than 120 ways are being used to launder money in Russia, citing as an example of reporting a large win in a casino as source of the revenue.
60 percent of criminally acquired money is transferred into cash, the remaining part into securities, land, real estate and other property, according to Mr. Zubkov. 33 percent of all money laundering crimes is committed in credit and finances, the head of the financial monitoring agency said.
Money laundering is punishable in Russia by up 15 years' imprisonment. Viktor Zubkov said more than 140 money laundering cases were recorded in Russia last year with total sum of illegal revenues at 289 billion rubles. Courts found 532 people guilty of money laundering in 2006, up from 419 convicts in 2005 and as little as 14 in 2003.