Spanish Notaries to Keep an Eye on Who Signs What!
September 18th, 2008
Spanish ´Notarios´ are being urged to report any suspicious transactions happening at their offices to the Money Laundering Prevention Squad. To that end they have been provided with a list of suspicious ´indicators´ that money laundering may be taking place in specific transactions.
As an example, Notaries are now looking into purchase sale deeds including
- Very young or old buyers, as well as incapacitated persons,
- Buyers not having any known activity or borrowing money from private sources,
- Borrowers cancelling their loans shortly after buying,
- Giving powers of attorney to persons different from lawyers,
- Very low price on the deeds compared to the price of the properties
- Using cash in large proportions (obvious!) and several transactions on the same property within a short period of time.
And in the wake of the recent indicment of 2 Notaries in Marbella for allegedly aiding money launderers it is clear that they will not overlook these risk indicators but will report any unusual transaction, which of course will mean nothing if nothing wrong has been done.
We gave power of attorney to our estate agent to sell our property, does this mean we were reported?
Hello Michelle, every Notario has a different perception as to what may be considered as suspicious but I can say that in Marbella they are extremely cautious! It really depends on the area, the number of transactions regularly done and I suppose on the physical appearance of the agent! Unfortunately there is also some discrimination being applied on the basis of nationality.