A research based on information from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) pointed out that at least seven Panamanian offshore companies have been listed as shareholders of companies that operate a total of 89 gambling halls in the Peru. In these companies, businessmen such as Félix Rosenberg Guttman, who was involved in the Panama Papers, and the Mustafá family, owner of a chain of four and five star hotels, can be identified.
The revelation about these offshore companies, as shareholders in casinos and slot machines or linked to entrepreneurs in this business, addresses the first vulnerability detected by the recent FIU report: the difficulties of the authorities to identify the real owners of the casinos and slot machines. in Peru.
In that sense, a reportage prepared by Connectas and La Encerrona, indicates that in 2018 the Latin American Financial Action Task Force (Gafilat) had already recommended to the Peruvian State to improve the control of companies in this sector.
That said, the FIU detected in its study that “the international standard of ensuring the identification of the final beneficiaries” of the companies that operate this type of business would not be met. In addition, the FIU analyzed the shareholders of gaming room operators and identified 271 cases in which the natural person who should appear as the real owner of the business is not known.
35% of games of chance in Peru present a medium to very high risk of money laundering, according to the FIU report.
What are the most vulnerable regions?
La Libertad and Puno are considered “geographical risk” areas for the operation of casinos and slot machines, due to the widespread presence of illicit activities, according to the FIU. In addition, according to official figures from Mincetur, a total of 21 slot machine rooms operate in these jurisdictions.
The investigation maintains that La Libertad has been considered a center of drug trafficking operations by the authorities since the last century. According to official figures from the FIU, in the last 16 years, the owners of casinos and slot machines in this region have been involved in suspicious operations for more than US$201,000.
“This region has always been a priority within the strategy of the fight against money laundering,” says PNP General Ángel Toledo, former head of the Police Laundering Directorate. For Toledo, the increase in slot rooms in La Libertad “is an indicator of the availability of cash […] and deserves special attention from the authorities.”
Puno for its part, is considered a region affected by illegal mining, smuggling and drug trafficking. For this reason, it can be said that it is one of the high-risk jurisdictions for money laundering.
Owners of casinos and slots
The FIU report warns about the high number of suspicious operations that have been carried out by casino and slot machine owners or their companies. In the last 16 years, the owners of games of chance have carried out suspicious operations for US$479 million, according to official data from the organization.
Although the identity of the businessmen involved in these suspicious operations is only known by the Peruvian authorities, the study provides some additional details. “Only in the reports issued between 2007 and 2018, 54 companies that operate gaming rooms and 152 shareholders or direct directors of these companies are involved. Most of these alerts were issued by banks and notaries.”
Along these lines, corruption and drug trafficking are the main sources of suspicious money linked to owners of casinos or slot machines, according to reports from the financial system in the last two decades.
In the final pages, the FIU report concludes that 35% of casinos and slot rooms in Peru present a medium to very high risk of money laundering. “We thought that the understanding of risk in the sector was different and unfortunately it was not so […] I think there is an almost cultural issue, of feeling that ‘the problem is not mine, I play a different role, I don’t know why they subject me to so many rules’”says Sergio Espinosa, head of the FIU.
