NZ says government will be money-laundering watchdog for lawyers, estate agents

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand government rejected yesterday a proposal for industries to police new money- laundering rules themselves, and will instead leave one government department in charge of supervising thousands more businesses.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) would scrutinise the new professions covered by the rules, including lawyers, real estate agents, accountants and car dealers, according to a proposal released by the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday.

The new rules will be introduced next year.

The government has come under pressure to tackle money laundering since the release in April of the Panama Papers, which showed how offshore companies often use New Zealand trusts as a way to create a secretive un-taxed vehicle in the South Pacific nation.

The Ministry of Justice said “self-regulating bodies” had no experience in tackling moneylaundering and the financing of terrorism.

“Having multiple agency supervision by self-regulatory bodies isn’t considered appropriate in New Zealand,” the ministry said.

Money-laundering experts had called for a dedicated supervisory body similar to Australia’s Austrac to streamline operations for New Zealand’s limited number of compliance experts and ensure consistency in applying the rules.

Professional industry groups for the law and real estate sectors had asked to be allowed to enforce the rules, but experts said that could lead to watered down compliance. — Reuters