NA adopts Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2009

* Bill suggests one to ten years imprisonment, fine up to Rs 1m for violators
* Fine may extend to Rs 5m in case of a company and any employee found guilty

By Tahir Niaz

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly adopted the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2009 on Wednesday proposing one to 10-year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1 million for violation of the law.

The bill was moved by Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Hina Rabbani Khar. Mentioning the objectives of the bill, the minister said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asian Pacific Group, which are responsible for monitoring compliance of AML/Combating Financing Terrorism (CFT) regime by member countries, had raised serious reservations on certain provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2007. "This required necessary review and changes in the law to bring it in line with international standards," she said, adding that amendments to the bill were also part of conditionalities under Pakistan's Accelerating Economics Transformation Programme of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

She said in order to meet requirements indicated by internal bodies and lending institutions, the proposed amendments address and broadly provide for the law's applicability in the area of countering financing of terrorism, expansion in the list of predicate offences and modifying the definition of money laundering in line with the internationally accepted standards.

For punishments, the bill provides that whoever commits offences of money laundering will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which will not be less than one year but may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to Rs one million and shall also be liable to forfeiture of property involved in the money laundering.

Company: It further provides that the aforesaid fine may extend to Rs five million in case of a company and every director, officer or employee of the company found guilty under this section, shall also be punishable under this section.

Under the bill, the federal government shall constitute a financial monitoring unit that will have independent decision-making authority on day-to-day matters coming within its areas of responsibility.

For the investigating officers, the bill provides that any officer exercising powers under this bill or any rules made under it, who, without prior permission of the court surveys or searches or causes to be surveyed or searched, any building or place; or detains or searches or arrests any person, shall for every such offence be liable, on conviction, for a term which shall may extend to two years or fine which may extend to Rs 50,000 or both.

The House also passed the Pakistan Engineering Council (Amendment) Bill 2009, further to amend the Pakistan Engineering Council Act, 1975. The Bill was presented to the House in pursuance of the Supreme Court orders.

Article Source : http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\28\story_28-1-2010_pg1_8

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