Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia’s Interior Ministry has so far cracked down on 75 moneylaundering cases, seized about 8million USD and confiscated nearly 3,000 vehicles, since the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed the countryon its grey list a year ago.

In Februarylast year, the global money-laundering watchdog placed Cambodia on a list ofcountries “highly vulnerable to money laundering” following reports showing itsjudicial system had high levels of corruption and it lacked the will toinvestigate financial crimes.

Cambodia hasmade minimal use of financial intelligence in investigating money launderingand terrorism financing, the FATF said in the report.

Following thereport, Cambodian authorities ratcheted up their war against the crime,catching dozens of suspects at international airports and border crossings inthe country.

InteriorMinistry spokesman General Khieu Sopheak told the English-language Khmer Times newspaper that the government and ministry areworking hard to fight money-laundering crimes in the country.

According tothe ministry’s report, joint authorities, especially the Cambodian Financial Intelligence Unit, havedealt with a total of 75 money laundering cases, of which 15 were sent to thecourts.

The reportsaid the authorities also seized a total of nearly 7.8 million USD and about 24,000USD in riel from suspects, three houses, a plot of land and 2,725 vehicles.

He saidat least three major cases of money laundering were cracked down on by theauthorities since February last year, adding the major cases involved Chinese nationals who broughtthe money to Cambodia via Hong Kong.

Last April,the Cambodian police arrested three Chinese nationals at Phnom PenhInternational Airport after they attempted to bring in more than 3.5 millionUSD from Hong Kong into the country without declaration.

They werecharged with money laundering under the Law on Anti-money Laundering andCombatting the Financing of Terrorism. If convicted, they face up to 20 yearsin prison.

A month later,another Chinese national was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport onsuspicion of illegally importing nearly 1million USD into Cambodia from HongKong.

In July, SiemReap authorities detained two people from the Republic of Korea for bringing in2.2 million USD through the airport from Hong Kong./.