John Culatto
AN estate agent on the Rock has been fined £5,000 under money laundering rules being enforced by Gibraltar.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) fined the company as part of their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) effort.
Companies need to hand in business risk and annual reports as well as complying toi AML/CFT guidelines.
The company had been asked to give the OFT these documents for some time, but they did not respond.
They were then warned they would be fined but with no response still, the decision was made to issue the penalty.
The OFT is empowered by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015 to make these fines.
They especially try to make sure high value items like property comply to these rules, with fines being the last step in this process.
The actions come after high-profile arrests of money laundering gangs in Spain, some of which were Gibraltarians.
The Rock is even more under the microscope after it signed agreements with Spain to prevent financial corruption.
An EU report also pointed out recently that Gibraltar could do more to fight money laundering, which could have also prompted this strong response.
