National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

In recent years, the integration phase and the role of ‘constructors’ and
‘bankers’ in this phase have been the subject of a lot of (media) attention.
This phase mainly concerns investments in property, not only portfolio
investments but also investments in buildings that are used for other criminal
activities. The buildings might be used as brothels, for example, where women
are forced to work as prostitutes, or as premises in which to cultivate cannabis.
Investments are also made in legal companies – often catering establishments –
to mix the legal income with criminal proceeds to give the criminal proceeds
a seemingly legal origin.
3.6.3 Scale
A total of 647 criminal organisations were identified in the 2005–2006 period.
Around one third (226) were (also) involved in money laundering. Of these 226,
there were 21 organisations that were exclusively involved in money laundering
for other criminal organisations. These organisations were mainly active in the
placement phase in which they exchanged and couriered funds; there were
fewer organisations that set up financial constructions to conceal criminal
proceeds. Money laundering organisations involved in the integration of
laundered money into society have contacts with professionals who have specific
expertise or powers that the organisation needs. The most frequent contacts are
with accountants, financial experts and civil-law notaries, and to a lesser extent
with lawyers.
Cases of a single person working for several criminal organisations are quite
frequent. The number of financial service providers that are culpably involved
in money laundering appears to be limited.
Hardly anyone is willing to make a statement about the size of the amounts
invested in property by (individual members of) criminal organisations. Only one
case file reported that, on the basis of money confiscated, 11 million euros of
criminal proceeds had definitely been invested in property. Most of the people
involved agree that this is an underestimate, but opinions on the actual full
amount differ.
It can be argued that only the ‘top layer’ of criminals in the Netherlands are left
with enough money to invest in property, but the exact amount involved remains
unclear. Most experts agree that there has not been an increase recently, and
that such an increase is not expected to occur in the next few years either.
An indication of the number of suspect transactions on the property market
can be obtained from the number of buildings that change hands several times
within a short period of time whereby major price fluctuations are observed.
132 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime