Asean mulls intelligence group vs ‘dirty’ money

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is considering the possibility of creating a group composed of financial intelligence units (FIUs) as the regional counterpart of the so-called Egmont Group, that would integrate efforts against anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.

The proposal was first floated during the recent workshop on anti money laundering held in Malaysia shortly after the meeting of the Egmont Group held in Sydney, Australia.

According to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, (AMLC) which attended both meetings, the proposal was floated during the Kuala Lumpur meeting. The group, to be known as the Asean Group, would be formed by Asean FIUs, including the AMLC.

AMLC executive director Victor Aquino told reporters yesterday that the meeting in Malaysia was attended by the top officials of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

According to Aquino, the APG was receptive to the idea of forming the Asean Group and it might be included as one of the topics for discussion and exploration when the APG meets in Macau in September.

The Egmont Group itself is a loose organization of FIUs and acts as the critical facilitator of information exchange between separate FIUs when ferreting or tracing the movement of dirty money involved in various illegal activities ranging from terrorism, drug trafficking and others.

"This group will be crucial in the region because it will enable its members to exchange information on funds that cross borders," Aquino said. "It is also in the interest of other groups such as the Egmont Group and its members, for a counterpart to exist because that will further facilitate cross-border exchange of information in the investigation and prosecution of these activities."

Recently transformed into a full-blown FIU, the AMLC would have to become a member of such a group in order to gain access to the international network and database that would be critical in the investigation and prosecution of money laundering and other financial frauds.

Although the AMLC could still function outside the group, sources explained that membership would make its job easier, especially when pursuing accounts, entities and individuals outside Philippine jurisdiction.

"Because of the transnational nature of money-laundering and related crimes, the investigation of such activities normally go beyond individual jurisdictions and would require international cooperation," the source explained. "the Asean Group would be very useful to us and we could be very useful to them."

The source said the AMLC also wanted to pursue further legislative enhancements to the Anti Money Laundering Law, such as the proposed enactment of the mutual legal assistance act, a law that would facilitate legal cooperation between the Philippines and other governments.

According to the source, the Philippines has already signed and ratified individual bilateral mutual legal assistance treaties with the US and Australia. Another treaty was signed with Hong Kong but this has not been ratified by the Senate.

The enactment of a mutual legal assistance act, the source said, would make it omnibus, removing the necessity to sign individual treaties with different governments.

"This doesn’t necessarily have to involve amendments in the AMLA, it could be a separate legislation in support of the AMLA," the source explained.