MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The 115-page study has identified the real estate and construction markets as highly lucrative investment targets that are especially susceptible for the use in money-laundering schemes.
"The total volume of money laundered in German financial and non-financial sectors appears to have surpassed 50 billion euros and has probably reached over 100 billion euros a year," the report said.
Between 15,000 and 28,000 suspicious transactions takes place every year in the non-financial sector alone, it estimated.
Thomas Steffen, state secretary at the Federal Finance Ministry, stressed in the report that the recent leak of alleged Panama Papers, which he said exposed schemes to dodge taxes, should lead to a global push for more financial transparency.
The German ministry is now mulling a 5,000-euro cap on single cash transactions. It has also proposed to draw up international "black lists" for money launderers and tax evaders.
