Capital repatriations under the foreign assets disclosure scheme (“tax shield”) need to be closely scrutinized by intermediaries in order to detect and report transactions that may be suspected of money laundering. So far, scarcely fifty reports of possible crimes in connection with transactions under the disclosure scheme have been received.
This low number is explained only in part by the fact that the law abrogates the reporting requirement for a number of types of crime. The banks need to step up their commitment to careful scrutiny of the repatriation transactions.