Money launderers face stiffer sanctions

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) yesterday said banks and covered persons found to have engaged in money laundering face stiffer sanctions and higher fines under the revised implementing rules and regulations adopted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier issued Circular Letter No. 2017-048 informing BSP-supervised covered persons on the rules on the imposition of administrative sanctions under Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001.

“The administrative sanctions are set to encourage adherence to the provisions of the AMLA, as amended, its Revised lmplementing Rules and Regulations and all AMLC issuances,” Fonacier said.

Under the new rules, the AMLC could impose an administrative sanction against a respondent found to have committed a violation. It may include penalty and non-penalty measures, such as fine, reprimand, warning, or such other measures as may be necessary and justified to prevent and counteract money laundering.

Administrative cases may be initiated upon referral of the report of compliance or report of examination to the litigation and evaluation unit after which a preliminary administrative investigation would be undertaken to determine whether a prima facie case exists to warrant the filing of a formal charge.

Upon determination of the existence of a prima facie case, the litigation and evaluation unit would file a formal charge against the covered person.

The AMLC shall, at its discretion, impose administrative sanctions upon any covered person for the violation of the AMLA or for failure or refusal to comply with the orders, resolutions and other issuances of the AMLC.

Fines shall be in amounts as may be determined by the AMLC to be appropriate, which shall not be more than P500,000 per violation. In no case shall the aggregate fine exceed five percent of the asset size of the respondent.

The new rules also classify the financial capability of covered persons as micro for those with assets worth P3 million and below; small for those with assets from P3 million to P15 million; medium for those with P15 million to P100 million; large A for those with P100 million and P500 million; and large B for those with P500 million and above.

The AMLC also determined the gravity of violations under grave involving pending money laundering investigations and prosecution of cases; major for the total disregard of customer due diligence, record-keeping, or transaction reporting requirements; and serious for cases that have great impact of AMLC’s ability to prevent or counter money laundering and terrorism financing.

There are also less serious violations for those that hamper or delay the exercise of AMLC’s compliance and investigation functions as well as light violations involving cases that have no immediate impact in the discharge of AMLC’s mandate.

Fines for micro covered persons range from P5,000 per violation for light cases to as much as P50,000 for grave offenses, while the fines for large B category range from P50,000 to as high as P500,00 per violation.

The BSP imposed a record P1 billion fine against Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. last year due to violations of AMLA when it was used as a conduit to launder the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank.