Anti Money Laundering News (01 Dec – 07 Dec 2025)
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Global AML News Weekly Digest. Here are the top stories making headlines around the world:
National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic proposes tighter AML/CFT rules for payment sector
The Kyrgyz central bank published a draft amendment revising 15 of its regulatory acts governing payment services, remote banking, e-money, virtual assets and payment operators — under the new Law on Countering the Financing of Criminal Activity and Money Laundering.
Under the draft, banks and payment firms must retain detailed records of transfers, e-wallets, cards and QR payments for at least 5 years, and log full transaction chains so authorities can reconstruct any suspicious flows.
Additionally, service providers registered in offshore or “high-risk” jurisdictions — per the national financial intelligence authority’s list — may be denied registration.
Internal AML/CFT controls, beneficial-owner due diligence, and compliance programs (including PEP monitoring, transaction-monitoring, training) are made mandatory for payment-system operators and their agents/subagents.
This regulatory tightening aims to bring the payment and fintech sector in Kyrgyzstan more explicitly under a harmonised AML/CFT framework, reflecting growing global pressure to tackle illicit finance via digital/virtual-asset channels.
Credit Suisse and UBS indicted in Swiss “tuna-bonds” money-laundering scandal
Swiss federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against a former Credit Suisse employee and held Credit Suisse and its acquirer UBS liable for organisational failures in the notorious Mozambique “tuna-bonds” affair involving over US$2 billion in loans to state-owned firms.
Prosecutors allege that a suspicious US$7.9 million transfer – part of the broader deal – was routed to
Credit Suisse account and then forwarded to accounts in the UAE, without adequate reporting to Switzerland’s financial-intelligence unit.
The bank’s compliance officer reportedly recognised red flags, but instead of filing a suspicious-transaction report, recommended immediate termination of the relationship; the reporting only occurred years later, triggered by U.S. criminal proceedings.
Swiss prosecutors identified institutional control weaknesses — gaps in compliance, transaction monitoring, and oversight — as factors that enabled laundering within a major global banking group.
The case underscored how legacy misconduct can continue to haunt banking giants even after acquisitions, and may become a landmark test for corporate criminal liability post-merger in Switzerland.
FIR registered against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi after alleged ₹988 crore money-laundering in Associated Journals Ltd takeover
Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed a fresh FIR naming Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and several others in connection with a purported ₹988 crore money-laundering scheme linked to the takeover of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of the historic newspaper National Herald.
According to the FIR, leaders used a shell company Young Indian Pvt Ltd — in which the Gandhis allegedly hold a 76 % stake — to acquire AJL and its real-estate assets (claimed to be worth over ₹2,000 crore) for a nominal amount of Rs 50 lakh, alleging fraudulent conversion of debt to equity.
The FIR claims the laundering scheme involved bogus donations, fake rent-receipts, inflated advertising revenue and complex transactions structured to mask the illicit proceeds.
Properties worth hundreds of crores have already been provisionally attached by the investigating authorities, per the FIR and attached documents.
The registration of this FIR reinvigorates a high-profile case that has significant political and regulatory implications for money-laundering enforcement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
Former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma sentenced to 5 years in prison in money-laundering case
A special PMLA court in Ahmedabad convicted retired IAS officer Pradeep Sharma of laundering proceeds obtained via underpriced allotment of government land during his tenure as Kutch district collector (2003–06), sentencing him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment plus a fine of ₹50,000.
Court records show the allotment was made at rates (₹15–18 per sqm) far below the state-fixed rate of ₹78, causing a loss of over ₹1.2 crore to the exchequer.
Investigators say the proceeds were routed through his wife’s bank account and a special-purpose vehicle company, which was later used to repay loans and purchase land; properties attached during the investigation remain confiscated by the government.
The case underscores enforcement of AML laws against public-servants and the use of legal tools (PMLA) to tackle financial crimes arising from corruption.
European Union moves to add Russia to money-laundering & terrorist-financing high-risk list
In a major regulatory shift, the European Union — acting on a draft decision — will add Russia to its list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorist financing, obliging EU financial institutions to apply enhanced due-diligence for transactions involving Russian counterparties.
The move follows increasing pressure from lawmakers and reflects concerns over illicit-finance flows tied to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine; it signals a new layer of financial-crime risk management in Europe’s AML/CFT regime.
Banks and payment firms across the EU will now be required to tighten transaction monitoring, apply enhanced KYC for Russian-linked clients, and potentially impose restrictions or enhanced scrutiny on cross-border payments and trade-finance involving Russia.
This blacklisting effectively brings supranational AML pressure on Russian businesses and oligarch-linked financial flows, and is likely to prompt ripple effects across corresponding jurisdictions and global correspondent-banking networks.
Thailand’s AMLO seizes assets worth ~10 billion baht from transnational cyber-fraud and laundering networks
Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) announced seizure and freezing orders for assets linked to criminal networks led by figures identified as “Chen Zhi” and “Kok An,” with total assets seized estimated at roughly 10.165 billion baht. The Transaction Committee said the action targets transnational cybercrime and scamming operations (many with operational bases in Cambodia) that laundered proceeds via property purchases and conversion into digital assets, seizing hundreds of items including land, cash and luxury goods. AMLO described multiple related cases (including schemes operating through apps and fake investment platforms) and noted that investigations revealed cross-border flows into digital wallets and bank accounts tied to organised networks. The move illustrates intensified regional enforcement against cyber-enabled fraud and large-scale laundering involving property and crypto conversions.
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