Group arrested over money laundering LE 50M via unlicensed building

CAIRO – 28 March 2019: The General Administration of Public Money Investigations spotted illegal activities by a group of people who money laundered L.E. 50 million ($2.8 million) through constructing unlicensed buildings in Greater Cairo.

Investigations revealed that a group of people has committed a criminal act for several years, including building housing towers and selling them to citizens without obtaining official licenses and approvals from the concerned state bodies.

The group has been carrying out the illegal practice over the past years, which enabled them to accumulate a massive fortune and violate engineering and licensing conditions.

Interrogations showed that the same group has previously been charged in many cases related to unlicensed building, stealing electric current and exploiting power.

“They have resorted to money laundering through several ways including the construction of additional unlicensed floors, selling them to citizens and making use of the revenues to build many more unlicensed housing towers. They also established companies, bought cars and deposited the revenues in banks under their and their relatives’ names in order to hide any link to the illicit act,” Al-Ahram newspaper quoted investigations.

The group was arrested and referred to the Public Prosecution with all evidence collected in their case, which showed that they illegally gained around L.E. 50 million as a result if this illegal act.

Egypt established the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit in 2002 under the Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 80 of 2002. The unit’s job is to combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Egypt.

The unit aims to improve anti-money laundering/terrorist financing combating systems that have been implemented by financial institutions and others operating in Egypt. Their job is to prevent exploitation of the funds generated by criminal activities or the financing of terrorist activities. The unit's main function is to receive, analyze, and distribute the STRs received from financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions.