Malaysia is among the countries with the greatest outflow of illicit money in the world; ranking alongside countries like Brazil, Vietnam, and South Africa.
American think tank the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) published its eighth report in the Illicit Financial Flows to and from 148 Developing Countries series. Highlighting the amount of illegal funds that are transferred around the world.
A majority of these funds are moved through the trade mis-invoicing, where the true value of a product or service is over-declared. This form of money laundering also comes in the form of having trade documents prepared in a third country with lower taxes.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that there was an outflow of $33.744 million (RM138.65 million) from Malaysia, while the United Nations own reports indicate that the number could be $22.889 million (RM94.05 million) instead. The difference in these numbers is largely due to Comtrade data available to the UN.
Not every country contributes trade information to Comtrade, which leaves gaps in the available information.
Malaysia only ranks behind China and Mexico in terms of illicit financial outflow.
