Last week, we discussed the proposed amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act of 2009. We stated that, while the amendments are necessary to bring the existing legislation in line with international best practice, care needs to be taken not to rush into passing them in order to meet the deadline set. We also expressed concern that many of the requirements of the existing legislation have not been implemented, especially as regards the operations of the Financial Intelligence Unit which is the backbone of the AML/CFT Act.
In addition, since corruption facilitates money laundering, we suggested the adoption of a three-pronged approach. This involves: (a) the National Assembly’s approval of the amendments to the AML/CFT Act after careful scrutiny by the Parliamentary Select Committee and making further amendments, as appropriate; (b)
