For the past six years, Greece’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority — the national body responsible for combating the laundering of criminal proceeds — has failed to publish its annual reports, despite being legally required to submit them to Parliament and make them publicly available.
On its updated official website (aml-authority.gov.gr), there is a section designated for these reports, yet it remains completely empty. Even the older reports from before 2018, which had previously been accessible on the authority’s former website, have disappeared without explanation.
This prolonged silence is particularly striking when compared to the transparency demonstrated by Cyprus. The country’s Financial Intelligence Unit, known as MOKAS, has just published its 2024 annual report — a detailed 49-page document outlining its operations and achievements over the past year. The report provides not only a statistical overview of its activities but also vivid descriptions of specific cases it helped to resolve. These cases were often uncovered with the help of bank disclosures, foreign authority requests, and even analysis of open-source media reports.
A key takeaway from the Cypriot report is MOKAS's robust engagement in international cooperation. In 2024 alone, the unit executed 26 official requests for judicial assistance involving the freezing or confiscation of illicit assets. These requests came from a wide array of countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and others across Europe and beyond. Notably absent from this list, however, is Greece. Throughout 2024, Greek judicial authorities did not send a single request to their Cypriot counterparts concerning asset freezes or seizures — a fact that raises questions about Greece’s level of engagement in cross-border financial crime investigations.
The Cypriot report also highlights a trend that is increasingly challenging for financial intelligence units across the world: the growing complexity of money laundering methods. Criminals are evolving their tactics, often moving illicit proceeds into investment portfolios and digital assets like cryptocurrencies. MOKAS observes that today’s requests for judicial cooperation are more demanding and technically complex than in years past, reflecting the sophisticated nature of modern financial crime.
