Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing Bill, 2009-08-21
29th October 2009
The long awaited Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Bill , 2009 which will give effect to the Third Money Laundering Directive 2005/60/EC (“the 3MLD”) was finally published on 28th July.
The 3MLD places greater emphasis and focus on monitoring and compliance. This is reflected in the Bill with 23 sections dedicated to monitoring by competent authorities. These include for example the Law Society in respect of solicitors and the Financial Regulator in respect of credit and financial institutions, such as tax advisers who are not accountants or solicitors, and dealers in high value goods, that is, those who may receive cash receipts of €15,000 or more. These authorities will be monitored for the purposes of compliance with the Bill and any breach of the compliance procedure will give rise to potential sanctions. It is incumbent on these authorities to report suspicious transactions to An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners and to have specific procedures in place to provide to the fullest extent possible for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Moreover, for financial and credit institutions, among others, breach of the money laundering control procedures will now give rise not just to potential criminal sanctions prescribed under the legislation but, in addition, the administrative sanctions operated by the Financial Regulator. It is anticipated that this Bill will become law before the end of 2009.
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