BSP wants tougher laws vs laundering

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is urging legislators to approve proposed amendments to the nine-year-old Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) to give the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) more teeth in running after individuals engaged in money laundering activities including jueteng operators.

“The AMLC is working with Congress to further strengthen the AMLA precisely to cover possible loopholes in the law,” AMLC Compliance and Investigation Group head Richard David Funk II said in a press conference.

He said the council wants legislators to expand the list of activities that may facilitate money laundering to include dealings in precious metals, precious stones, real estate, casinos, and Internet casinos.

Funk’s call came in the wake of reports that illegal gambling lords are now using creative methods of laundering billions of pesos including the buying and selling of luxury cars, real estate, and even artworks by local artists auctioned off overseas.

He said the fact that money launderers have to resort to such scheme indicates that the law is working.

He explained that criminal elements now maintain offshore accounts in other territories like Hong Kong and Singapore. 

“It should be pointed out that like the Philippines, both Hong Kong and Singapore have stringent anti-money laundering measures already in place in their respective financial and law enforcement systems,” Funk said.

He added that the another proposed amendment to anti-money laundering law would allow AMLC to peer into bank accounts without the need for a court order. The Supreme Court requires the council to first get a court order before poring over bank accounts.

“Unfortunately, such a requirement ties the hand of the AMLC in developing a money laundering case as the requirement to first inform the account owner of an investigation could tie it up in litigation for years,” he said.

“It therefore stalls rather than expedite its mandate to investigate money laundering,” he lamented.

Funk also said the proposed amendments also include the mandatory reporting by lawyers of any suspicious transactions of their clients.

“Many European jurisdictions now impose this requirement on its lawyers,” he said.

He said the body has already forwarded a copy of the proposed amendment to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

“These proposed amendments should minimize, if not eradicate, money laundering activities of criminal elements and their associates that allow them to corrupt and undermine the legal process,” he said.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the international body leading the fight against global money laundering – wants the Philippines to implement amendments to the anti-money laundering law.

FATF has questioned the loopholes in the implementation of the law and vowed to impose sanctions that would make all financial transactions with Philippine banks more tedious for individuals and corporations.

Getting sanctions from the FATF is nothing new to the Philippines. When the international watchdog blacklisted the country, international money transfers for business as well as remittances from overseas Filipinos became problematic, as foreign banks imposed more restrictions on transactions from Philippine banks, causing delays and complications.