Purpose of AMLA
To protect and preserve the integrity and confidentiality of bank accounts and to ensure that the Philippines shall not be used as a money laundering site for the proceeds of any unlawful activity.
What is a money laundering offense?
Crime whereby the proceeds of an unlawful activity as herein defined are transacted, thereby making them appear to have originated from legitimate source.
What are unlawful activities?
Any act or omission or series or combination thereof involving or having direct relation to the following:
- Kidnapping
- Violations under the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002
- Violations under Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practice Act
- Plunder
- Robbery and extortion
- Jueteng and Masiao
- Piracy on the high seas
- Qualified theft
- Swindling
- Smuggling
- Violations under E-commerce Act of 2000
- Hijacking and other violations under RA 6235, destructive arson and murder, including those perpetrated by terrorists against non-combatant person and similar targets
- Fraudulent practice and other violations under Securities Regulation Code of 2000
- Felonies or offense of a similar nature that are punishable under the penal laws of other countries
Who can be guilty of money laundering offense?
- Any person knowing that any monetary instrument or property represents, involves, or relates to, the proceeds of any unlawful activity, transacts or attempts to transact said monetary instrument or property
- Any person knowing that any monetary instrument or property involves the proceeds of any unlawful activity, performs or fails to perform any act as a result of which he facilitates the offense of money laundering referred to in paragraph above
- Any person knowing that any monetary instrument or property is required under this act to be disclosed and filed with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), fails to do so.
Covered Transaction
a transaction in cash or other equivalent monetary instrument involving a total amount in excess of five hundred thousand persons within one banking day
Suspicious Transactions
Transactions with covered institutions, regardless of the amounts involved, where any of the following circumstances exist:
- No underlying legal or trade, obligation, purpose or economic justification
- Client is not properly identified
- Amount involved is not commensurate with business or financial capacity of the client
- Taking into account all known circumstances, it may be perceived that the client’s transaction is structured in order to avoid being the subject of reporting requirements under the Act
- Any circumstances which is observed to deviate from the profile of the client and/or the client’s past transactions wit the covered institutions
- Transaction is in anyway related to an unlawful activity or offense that is about to be, I being or has been committed; or
- Any transactions that is similar or analogous to any of the foregoing
Covered institutions
- Banks, off-shore baking units, quasi-banks, trust entities, non-stock savings and loan association, etc
- Insurance companies, insurance agents, insurance brokers, etc
- Securities dealers, brokers, salesmen, etc
Covered persons
it refers to the following, natural or judicial:
a. all persons and their subsidiaries and affiliates supervised or regulated by the BSP
b. all persons supervised or regulated by the Insurance Commission
c. Entities administrating or otherwise dealing in currency, commodities or financial derivatives and other similar monetary instrument or property supervised or regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission
d. Jewelry dealers in precious metals and/or stones for transactions in excess of one million pesos
e. Company service providers which, as business, provide any of the following services to third parties:
1. acting as a formation agent
2. acting as director or corporate secretary of a company, etc
3. providing registered office, business address or accommodation, correspondence or administrative adress for a company, etc
4. acting as a nominee shareholder
f. Persons who provide any of the following services:
1. managing of client money, securities or other assets
2. management of banks, savings or securities accounts
3. organization of contributions for the creation, operation or management of companies
4. creation, operation or management of judicial persons or arrangements, and buying and selling business entities
Obligations of Covered Persons
- Customer identification
- Record keeping
- Reporting of covered and suspicious transaction
Customer identification
- covered institutions shall establish and record the true identity of clients based on official documents
- maintain a system verifying the same, legal existence and organizational structure, as well as authority and identification of all persons purporting to act on their behalf
Record Keeping
- all records of covered institutions shall be maintained and safely stored for five years from the dates of transactions
Reporting of covered and suspicious transactions
GR: Transactions covered persons shall report to the AMLC all covered transactions and suspicious transactions within five days from occurrence thereof, unless the AMLC prescribes a different period not exceeding 15 working days.
EXC: Independent lawyers and accountants are not required to report if they are subject to professional secrecy or legal professional privilege.
Anti-money laundering council is composed of
- Governor of BSP as chairman
- Commissioner of the Insurance Commission and the Chairman of SEC as members
Functions of AMLC
- To require and receive covered or suspicious transaction reports from covered institutions
- To issue orders to the appropriate Supervising Authority or the covered institution to determine the true identity of the owner of any monetary instrument or property subject of a covered or suspicious transaction
- To institute civil forfeiture proceedings and all other remedial proceedings through the Office of the Solicitor General
- To cause the filing of complaints with the DOJ or the Ombudsman for the prosecution of money laundering offenses
- To investigate suspicious and covered transactions deemed suspicious after an investigation by the AMLC, money laundering activities and other violations of this act
- To apply before the Court of Appeals, ex parte, for the freezing of any monetary instrument or property alleged to be the proceeds of any unlawful activity as defined in the section3 hereof
