Hong Kong money laundering police face record deluge of 100 reports a day

Police investigators at the forefront of Hong Kong's battle against money laundering face a flood of reports, with more than 100 suspected cases landing on their desks every day - almost double the amount of just three years ago.

New figures from the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit, obtained by the , reveal that 37,188 suspicious transaction reports were made last year, up from 32,907 in 2013.

The huge increase - which amounts to a daily average of more than 100, up from 54 in 2009 - comes amid Beijing's corruption crackdown and was the highest number of reports that the police and customs officers who staff the unit have handled since it was established in 1989.

A police source with knowledge of the unit's operations said it was ironic that the number of reports had snowballed over a period when a significant number of officers had left the force to join the private sector.

In some cases, they joined the very banks whose beefed-up compliance departments are the source of most of the suspicious reports.

"The majority of these 37,000 cases will not be pursued, but they still have to be assessed. And the ones which do need proper investigation can take years to get to the bottom of due to their complexity. It's a hell of a caseload,'' the source said.

A police spokesman declined to respond to questions about the size and capability of the unit.