Interpol's First 'Purple Notice': A New Front in Combating Trade-based Money Laundering

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Friday that it has secured the publication of the first 'Purple Notice' issued by Interpol in a trade-based money laundering case. This notice, published by the Lyon-based international police body on August 21, is part of an effort to alert and inform its 196 member countries about criminals' latest methodologies.

The 'Purple Notice' is one among eight types of notices that Interpol issues and focuses on sharing vital information on criminal modus operandi. The ED aims to use this notice to spread awareness and sensitize global counterparts to the innovative money laundering trends that are emerging today.

This particular investigation deals with an organized network that utilized domestic and foreign shell entities for laundering money on a large scale. By exploiting trade and banking channels, the conspirators engaged in techniques like under-invoicing imports, sham duty-free imports, and circular re-exports to disguise illegal. This sophisticated operation functioned similarly to a hawala system but used legitimate banking systems to bypass regulatory scrutiny.

(With inputs from agencies.)