Criminals use high-value goods traders as a money laundering mechanism, making playing ball with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica) all the more important.

Listen to this article 6 min Listen to this article 6 min In April 2023, the United States Attorney's Office announced that it had charged Nazem Said Ahmad with laundering money through businesses that traded in art and gems -- money he used to finance terrorism.

Several of these businesses were South African and some had even done business with the South African government.

It was bad timing -- only a few months before, South Africa had been put on the Financial Action Task Force's grey list.

Money laundering and terrorism financing are often linked; money laundering attempts to mask the source of the money, while terrorism financing attempts to hide the destination of the money.

To this end, criminals often use legitimate high-value goods traders -- businesses that deal with goods worth R100,000 or more -- to launder money. These traders, usually dealers in goods such as gems, art, vehicles and chemicals, risk hefty penalties from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) if they don't keep a keen eye out for criminals attempting to launder money through their businesses.

The failure of such a business to report suspicious transactions or otherwise do its due diligence can constitute non-compliance with the...