How have they omitted the USA, UK, China, etc? Name a Wall Street bank that hasn't been handed out a hefty fine for being used for money laundering. - I'll wait. I'd suggest that casinos & construction here are the main culprits, but you'll see the 'competent authorities' looking into tightening the noose on Sopheap sending $200 home without her ID.

To me it is absolute nonsense all the same - if I wanted to bag the whole string of money launderers or terrorists, why would I not leave them the lazy option of just sending money via a bank or some other digital means (people naturally take the lazy option eventually); there's an entire audit trail, CCTV even on things like mobile money agents - the whole 10 yards. Compare that versus forcing the reprobates to use almost untraceable cash, it's absurd. If you want to catch them, abolish the fines for money laundering, and give the financial institutions credit for providing the evidence needed to lock up the entire crew end to end.

Spigzy wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2020 9:41 am How have they omitted the USA, UK, etc? Name a Wall Street bank that hasn't been handed out a hefty fine for being used for money laundering.

Isn't that the point, they got a hefty fine. And it made them more cautious for the future.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 9:25 am

Spigzy wrote: ↑Mon May 11, 2020 9:41 am How have they omitted the USA, UK, etc? Name a Wall Street bank that hasn't been handed out a hefty fine for being used for money laundering.

Isn't that the point, they got a hefty fine. And it made them more cautious for the future.

You would think so, yet it happens over and over again - often with the same banks. The fines, although massive to a man in the street are pocket change for those banks.

But to me the solution they're trying to implement to stop money laundering simply makes it even harder to catch. By forcing banks to ramp up controls, and criminals to use cash, you're taking away perhaps the best audit trail you could ask for: a digital footprint that links all participants in a nice chain, can be used in court as evidence to take down the whole operation through one person's sloppy laziness. That option isn't there with cash, the buck stops with whoever is caught holding it and is a nightmare to prove involvement of others in the chain.

I'd scrap the whole damn thing, bank fees would come down (okay those sods probably wouldn't!) so they don't have to have an "AML" rainy day purse tucked away; but most important of all, you allow criminals to use the banks and other such channels where their actions are entirely traceable, often with video evidence on top - anyone who has worked in an organisation of any size will tell you sooner or later, one of the team will screw up - in the case of illegal activites, that can have massive consequences rather than Johnny getting a performance improvement plan in a normal organisation!

Just my opinion, of course the fines deter banks from allowing criminals to use them, I just think it is an opportunity missed to do it better.

Draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorist Financing Endorsed by Cabinet Ministers
AKP Phnom Penh, May 15, 2020 --

The weekly cabinet meeting, held here this morning under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HE, approved the draft law on anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism.

According to H.E. Phay Siphan, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Royal Government Spokesperson Unit, the draft law was approved without any changes.

Earlier, in the same meeting, the cabinet ministers also endorsed the draft law on countering the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The drafting of the two laws did not to satisfy any organisations, but it is the effort of the Royal Government and the National Bank of Cambodia to improve the two legal tools as a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, underlined H.E. Phay Siphan.
AKP

May 16, 2020
Attempts to smuggle billions of dollars into Cambodia thwarted
The authorities have successfully thwarted at least two attempts to smuggle billions of dollars into Cambodia.

These were in addition to the millions seized from suitcases and bags smuggles through the airport and land borders, said Prime Minister HE.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting Friday, the prime minister said that the Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia rejected the attempts to smuggle up to $2.5 billion in illicit funds, supposedly for investment projects.

“Cambodia is not connected with any financial transactions involving terrorism. But for money laundering, for examples there were couple of cases of confiscation and seizures of money involving laundering which came through Phnom Penh international airport.

“Some money launderers had also tried to sneak through Cambodia’s land border and they carried with them large amounts of money in suit cases and bags. These are monies that did not go through regular banking transactions and such classified as laundering,” he said.

Since February 2019, when Cambodia made a high-level political commitment to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to strengthen the effectiveness of its Anti Money Laundering (AML)/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regime and address any related technical deficiencies, Cambodia has taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by demonstrating an increase in domestic coordination and cooperation to enhance ML investigations.

FATF said that Cambodia should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by: (1) providing a broad legal basis for MLA and conducting relevant training to LEAs; (2) implementing risk-based supervision for real estate and casinos; (3) implementing the risk-based supervision to banks, including through prompt, proportionate and dissuasive enforcement actions, as appropriate; (4) amending the AML/CFT Law to address the remaining technical compliance deficiencies; (5) enhancing its analysis of STRs and increasing disseminations to LEAs; (6) demonstrating an increase in ML investigations and prosecutions; (7) demonstrating an increase in the freezing and confiscation of criminal proceeds, instrumentalities, and property of equivalent value; (8) establishing and implementing a legal framework for UN targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation financing and enhancing the understanding of sanctions evasion.
Khmer Times/FATF

June 5, 2020
Flushing out ‘dirty’ money
The National Assembly yesterday approved the draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, which is aimed at preventing and combating such activities in the Kingdom.

Of the 119 lawmakers who attended yesterday’s plenary session led by National Assembly president Heng Samrin, 118 voted in favour of the draft law without making any change after about two hours of debate.

The law has been designed to assist authorities to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism by identifying measures to “prevent, crack down and combat” the scourge.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, who represented the government in defending the law, said it is necessary for the Kingdom to deal with these issues.

He said the law was discussed in detail among inter-ministerial committees before being sent to the Council of Ministers in May.

The Office of the Council of Ministers approved it during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister HE on May 15.

Mr Kheng said the law aims to set up measures against money laundering and financing of terrorism as well as the organisation and control of steps to enforce them.

“Actually, we already have a law but to make enforcement easier, the inter-ministerial working group feels that we need to create a new law, Mr Kheng said, noting that the present law has been amended before.

If the law is approved it will replace the old law which was adopted by the National Assembly on April 30, 2007, during the sixth session of the third legislature.
Full article: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50730464/f ... rty-money/