Handelsblatt on 11th July reported that the German FIU is overworked and understaffed, say police and prosecutors. Staff only pass on tips 6 months after crimes are committed, creating a “security catastrophe”. The AML agency has a backlog of tens of thousands of reports, is woefully understaffed, and so risks missing important leads about terrorism, according to Handelsblatt’s research. It says that, in a secret report to the parliamentary finance committee, the state criminal authority in Thuringia labelled the FIU “a significant danger to domestic security”. The FIU suffers from fundamental deficiencies in both conception and execution, say critics. The unit was originally moved from the Federal Criminal Police Office to the Central Customs Authority but without the original staff. The FIU does not see this as a problem, but said it needs 475 more members of staff. New employees are currently being trained, the agency said.
