China remained by far the biggest destination for Australian cash this year, while the amount of funds transferred to Estonia experienced a huge, unexplained spike.
New data published on Austrac’s freedom of information disclosure log reveals the annual totals of international funds transfers from Australian accounts since 2010.
The movement of funds itself is not suspicious, but can provide intelligence for anti-money laundering organisations like Austrac.
This year, $1.26bn was moved from Australian bank accounts to China, compared to $591m in 2010.
The Philippines received $652m, making it the next biggest destination for funds transfers, jumping from $347m six years ago.
Britain, India, and the United States were also among the top destinations for Australian money last year, although the amount of funds being transferred to the US dropped significantly since 2010.
The amount of funds that moved to the small European nation of Estonia jumped dramatically.
In 2010, just $77,500 moved from Australian accounts to the small European nation. That had increased dramatically to $4.3m by 2015, and again to $8.9m in 2016.
Anti-money laundering expert, John Walker, said most of the changes could be easily explained by trade.
Estonia joined the European Union in 2004, and Walker said this may explain the spike in funds transfer since 2010.
He said it could simply be due to an increase in trade between Australia and Estonia, due to their EU membership, or because money launderers took advantage of a “new” opportunity in that country.
The Austrac data appeared to also show a huge increase in funds transfers to Monaco, from $3,347 in 2010 to $1.6m in 2016.
Walker said he doubted the increase suggested greater use of Monaco for money laundering.
“The increases can reflect an increase in trade between Monaco and Australia – it’s virtually impossible to tell – remember that these are not necessarily ‘suspicious’ transactions,” Walker said.
“Monaco has never figured very highly, and that’s because casinos are very good at laundering money without raising suspicions.”
Another expert, Todd Harland, who heads consultancy AML Solutions International, told News Corp that the spike in funds to Estonia warranted a close examination by authorities.
• This article was amended on 29 December 2016 to correct the date that Estonia joined the EU.
