The Ministries of Finance, the Interior and Justice presented the work of a task force from the three ministries at a joint discussion and information event at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union in Brussels on Monday, January 13, 2025. The aim is to use an innovative structure to track down and dry up the sources of funding for organized crime and terrorism.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, investigators from the tax investigation, police and judiciary work under the umbrella of the State Criminal Police Office according to the principle of "joined desks". Networking is a success factor in the fight against organized (economic) crime, money laundering and terrorist financing. North Rhine-Westphalia is therefore calling for the establishment of cross-border cooperation between Europol, the European Public Prosecutor's Office and the investigative authorities of other Member States in new, permanent structures. In addition to organizational measures, new European legislative initiatives for investigative work were also discussed in Brussels.
Minister of Finance Dr Marcus Optendrenk: "The money flows of terrorism and organized crime are fast, international and digital. Our tracing methods need an update so that we can also follow the money trail in crypto exchanges and hawala banking. And we cannot afford any frictional losses at national or jurisdictional borders if we want to effectively protect our citizens' money."
Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul: "Law enforcement in financial crime is teamwork. When investigators think outside the box and network, we can track down criminals more quickly. Every building block helps to identify and dry up illegal sources of money from criminal members of family clans or rocker groups with the involvement of customs and financial investigators. That is why we are not letting up on finding new solutions to analyze illegal financial flows and uncover modi operandi. This must become a European model."
Minister of Justice Dr. Benjamin Limbach: "Short paths, clear structures and concentrated knowledge among the investigating and prosecuting authorities are important success factors in the fight against organized crime. With our task force, we have created a powerful and well-networked bridgehead that brings everyone together and also aims to provide new impetus for cross-border investigations in Europe."
Background
Organized crime and terrorism have in common that they are dependent on regular sources of income for their activities. Like organized crime, international terrorism also needs money to set up and maintain networks and to recruit and pay those involved. This naturally has to be obtained covertly and regularly comes from illegal sources.
Since 2018, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice have been working together in a specially established task force to combat the financial sources of organized crime and terrorism. It regularly uses interdisciplinary evaluation and analysis tools to uncover new forms of crime and develop effective cross-departmental prosecution concepts.
The joint investigations led, among other things, to the discovery of an international network of underground banks and money laundering cartels, in which other European investigative authorities were also involved. The success of the investigation was presented as part of a case study. The dismantling of the international network by the task force shows that the networking of authorities can succeed not only nationwide, but also across borders.
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