Anti Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Malaysia : Mutual Legal Assistance in Malaysia and how it relates with Money Laundering Offences

Monday, June 18, 2018

Mutual Legal Assistance in Malaysia and how it relates with Money Laundering Offences

Do you know what is Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in Malaysia? And how it relates with Money Laundering offences?

The Mutual Legal Assistance process does not only apply to issues directly relating to Money Laundering, but also relates to predicate offences as well as serious offences and serious foreign offences

In Malaysia, MLA is governed by the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Act 2002(MACMA).

All requests to or from Malaysia must be madw through the Malaysian Attorney General(AG) who will consider the requests.

So, under MACMA, our Attorney General can request :
1) Taking of Evidence
2)Request for attendance of person
3)Enforcement of Forfeiture Order
4)Locating or identifying persons
5)Assistance in service of process

Muhamad Nazri Shaidon,CFI
Certified Financial Investigator (AML/CFT)
PhD candidate (Law)

AML/CFT regime in Malaysia

Under Section 4 of the AMLA, any person who commits a money laundering offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 years and shall also be liable to a fine of not less than 5 times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity or instrumentalities of an offence at the time the offence was committed or five million ringgit, whichever is the higher.

WHAT IS MONEY LAUNDERING?

Money laundering is a process of converting cash or property derived from criminal activities to give it a legitimate appearance. It is a process to clean ‘dirty’ money in order to disguise its criminal origin.

WHAT IS TERRORISM FINANCING?

Terrorism financing is the act of providing financial support, funded from either legitimate or illegitimate source, to terrorists or terrorist organisations to enable them to carry out terrorist acts or will benefit any terrorist or terrorist organisation.

While most of the funds originate from criminal activities, they may also be derived from legitimate sources, for example, through salaries, revenues generated from legitimate business or the use of non-profit organisations to raise funds through donations.

IMPACT OF MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING ON COUNTRY

Increase in the overall rate of crime that could threaten national security.
Inhibit the growth and competitiveness of the economy.
Taint the integrity and reputation of the business and financial sector.
Increase cost of doing business and operations of various sectors of the economy.

LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK IN MALAYSIA

The Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA) is the primary statute governing the AML/CFT regime in Malaysia. The Act was gazetted as law on 5 July 2001 and came into force on 15 January 2002.

The AMLA provides for the offence of money laundering and terrorism financing and the measures to be undertaken for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing offence.

The AMLA provides wide-ranging investigation powers including powers for law enforcement agencies and Public Prosecutor to freeze and seize properties that are involved or suspected to be involved in money laundering or terrorism financing offences, and the power of the court to forfeit properties derived from the proceeds of serious crimes.

Anti Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Malaysia

Monday, June 18, 2018

Mutual Legal Assistance in Malaysia and how it relates with Money Laundering Offences

Lawyer and Anti Money Laundering (AMLA) Law in Malaysia

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