The final ruling of the Tallinn Circuit Court upheld an administrative court's authorisation to transfer €7,400 into state ownership. The sum consisted of 37 damaged €200 banknotes that an individual had brought to Eesti Pank for exchange.
According to the court, the connection between the assets and suspected money laundering remained intact throughout the case, while the individual provided contradictory and implausible explanations regarding the origin of the money. The court found that the person concerned was highly likely to be a nominee acting on behalf of another party and that the true beneficial owner of the assets could not be identified.
“The money most likely originated from a bank robbery that, according to public sources, took place in Libya in 2017. As it is not possible to collect sufficient evidence in Estonia to conduct criminal proceedings in relation to this matter, and as the other statutory requirements for civil forfeiture were also met, we were able to use this legal instrument. In doing so, we consistently send a message to criminals that Estonia is not a place to attempt money laundering,” said Matis Mäeker, Head of the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit.
“The ruling also importantly confirms the protection of information and analytical methods used in anti-money laundering proceedings. It reflects a deeper understanding of the work of the Financial Intelligence Unit. Our successes are often not visible to the public, as they serve as intelligence and input for the work of investigative authorities,” Mäeker added.
The first attempts to exchange the so-called “Libyan money” in Estonia took place in 2018. Following the intervention of the Financial Intelligence Unit, since 2022 courts have ordered nearly €30,000 to be transferred to state revenues in five separate cases connected to the same alleged predicate offence underlying the suspected money laundering.
