Economic crime in Luxembourg is increasingly accepting international character

The department for economic and financial crime among the criminal police is responsible for the implementation of judicial investigations in connection with economic and financial offenses. In the area of ​​responsibility of the department, there are particularly crimes that are determined as part of professional, social and financial activities to the detriment of private individuals, legal entities or the state, which are exposed to financial damage in a large number of cases.

When combating economic and financial crime, which increasingly assumes international character, considerable efforts in the field of coordination and cooperation at national and international level are required, as in Joint report 2024 of the police can be read.

Over the past year, the members of the department were confronted with a large number of new cases and an increasing complexity of the investigation. According to the officially presented report, the department again carried out an extraordinary recruitment of members as part of the coalition agreement 2023-2028 and the evaluation of Luxembourg through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

557 Legal aid searches

The department recorded an increase in the number of employees by twelve percent – « and this positive development, which will continue in the coming years, begins to pay off », as the report by police director Pascal Peters can be seen.

These efforts would be shown in particular in the reactionability of the « International Legal Assistance » department on the numerous international requests for legal assistance, including the European investigative decisions of foreign authorities – here the responsible department « had made all the necessary efforts to answer 557 legal aid ».

With the establishment of the European public prosecutor on June 1, 2021, the task of which it is to conduct investigations and to carry out law enforcement measures against criminal offenses to the detriment of the EU budget, the number of investigations transferred to it increases.

In order to ensure a regular exchange with the European public prosecutor and a better and timely execution of the investigation and actions obtained from the European public prosecutor’s office, a new « EPPO » department was set up within the department within the department.

Suspicion of criminal activities

The close cooperation with national actors such as the Central Office for suspected ads (FIU) and the asset creation center (BRA) has also been intensified.

The year 2024 was also characterized by a significant increase in the efforts of the money laundering control department for the reconciliation of assets using the FIU’s blocking powers, the European and international networks and the quick reaction system « I-Grip ». This can use police authorities of the 196 Interpol member countries to quickly intercept financial transactions that are suspected of criminal activities and to arrange their regulation.

In particular, the number of urgent request to block Geldern rose by 24 percent compared to the previous year in 2024 and led to several million euros in harmony with national politics « crime does not pay off » and reimbursed to the victims.

The « Money Laundering Control » department is also responsible for the implementation of asset investigations as well as for investigations in connection with criminal offenses in money laundering and terrorist financing, violations of the relevant professional duties and non -compliance with international financial sanctions.

According to the police, the number of new cases assigned to the department in the course of 2024 amounts to 103 cases. In addition, in cases where the preliminary act is presumably connected to the activities of criminal organizations, for example, the preliminary act of money laundering is presumably systematic, in addition to the investigations of other departments in terms of money laundering, is increasingly systematic in cases in which the preliminary act is presumably connected to money laundering.

For the « Economic and Financial Office » department, the year 2024 was characterized by 89 new cases, which caused considerable damage or had affected many victims.

Among the 439 cases assigned to the department, the main offenses were abuse of social assets (46 percent), counterfeits (15 percent), was in various forms such as phishing, investment fraud or tax fraud (13 percent) and fraudulent bankruptcies (11 percent). Similarly, the various departments deal with several cases of internet fraud or swindling such as president fraud or subsidy fraud.