Last week’s raid by German prosecutors of the country’s finance and justice ministries has once again put a spotlight on Germany’s apparent failings in tackling financial crime.

The raid, which took place Sept. 9 in the city of Osnabrück, was part of an investigation into the government’s anti-money laundering (AML) agency, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), over whether it was told to ignore warnings of suspect payments worth millions of euros to Africa and elsewhere between 2018-20.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...