The House of Representatives has approved a priority bill of the
Aquino administration seeking to give more teeth to the country’s
existing law against money laundering.
Voting
144-7 with one abstention, the lower chamber passed on third and final
reading on Wednesday night House Bill 6565, which amends certain
provisions of Republic Act 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of
2001.
In a statement, House Speaker Feliciano
Belmonte Jr., one of the bill’s authors, said the measure was approved
to honor the country’s commitments to international treaties,
particularly the Vienna Convention of 1988 and the Palermo Convention of
2001.
“The measure seeks to strengthen further
the anti-money laundering law by making it compliant with updated and
revised international anti-money laundering or counter-terrorist
financing standards,” Belmonte said.
Under the
proposed legislation, money laundering is defined as “a crime where the
proceeds of an unlawful activity are transacted, converted, transferred,
disposed of, moved, acquired, possessed, used, concealed or disguised.”
The approved measure expands the coverage of the anti-money laundering
law to include money changers, pre-need companies, casinos, real estate
agents, dealers of precious metals and stones, and trust company service
providers.
The bill also provides for
additional unlawful activities to money laundering, including terrorism
and terrorist financing, human trafficking, bribery, forgery,
malversation of public funds and environmental crimes.
The proposed amendatory statutes also gives the Anti-Money Laundering
Council (AMLC) the authority to file a civil forfeiture case upon
determination that a probable cause exists to believe that money is
related to an illegal activity.
The Senate
version of this measure, Senate Bill 3123, is still pending before third
reading. It has to be approved by the Senate before a bicameral
conference committee can be convened to settle conflicting provisions of
the two versions of the bill.
The report of the
bicameral conference committee will then be sent to both the House and
the Senate for ratification. Once ratified by both chambers, the
proposed legislation will be sent to the President for approval. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News
0 comments:
Post a Comment