Banks and other financial institutions reported more than 1,200 "suspicious" financial transactions worth £123 million to the Gardai last year.
The figure reported to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is a dramatic increase on 1997 when 504 transactions were deemed suspicious and reported to gardai. The £30.1 million involved in the 1997 reports represents less than a quarter of last year's total.
This year's figures are expected to rise substantially, when other professionals are legally obliged to report any suspicious transactions. Draft regulations to oblige solicitors, accountants, estate agents and auctioneers to report suspicious transactions have been sent to the Attorney General's office, according to a Department of Justice spokesman.
Mr Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society, refused to comment on the implications for solicitors, saying the society was "still in correspondence with the Department in relation to this".
The Department has also consulted the Central Bank on technical aspects of the reporting procedure. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said last year he intended to bring the other professions into the legislation. Under the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which made money-laundering a criminal offence, he has the power to add other designated reporting bodies by regulation.
A suspicious transaction is defined as unusual activity in an account, such as a large influx of money or suspicions that an individual is using a false name. In 1995, when financial institutions were first obliged to report suspicious transactions, 199 such transactions were reported, totalling £17.7 million.
At least one large bank has appointed a manager to deal with the reporting of suspicious transactions. Senior gardai believe that while the law on money-laundering is welcome, a criminal can still go to a solicitor, estate agent or accountant with a large amount of cash and instruct them to buy a property in the State or abroad.
Although such assets bought in the State could be seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau if they are discovered, the professional involved in organising the transaction is not obliged to report it to gardai. More than £12.5 million of last year's total related to reports by a single Irish financial institution.
