ABSTRACT
Z. Hamin & N. Omar Accounting Research Institute, HiCoE, MOHE, Malaysia Faculty of Law, UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
W.R. Wan Rosli & M.U. Abdul Razak Faculty of Law, UiTM, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the provisions in the recently proposed amendment bill to the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA) and highlight some of the pertinent changes, in particular those relating to the existing money laundering offences and the creation of new offences including structuring of transactions or “smurfing” and the offence of cross-border movement of cash and negotiable instruments. Also, the paper draws attention to the enhancement of the penalties for the existing offences in the existing 2001 Act. Employing a doctrinal legal analysis and secondary data, the paper analyses the primary source, which is the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Amendment) Act 2013. For comparative analysis, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 of Australia, and the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2013 of New Zealand are also examined. Secondary sources include case law, articles in academic journals, books and online databases. The authors contend that the review of the AML/CFT law is timely and indicative of the consistent efforts of the Malaysian government to adhere to international standards recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). However, instrumental and normative deficiencies in the AML/CFT law remain, which need to be addressed immediately in order to ensure that the changes in the law is sufficiently comprehensive to prevent and regulate money laundering and terrorism financing occurring within the country.
Keywords: Money laundering, Terrorism financing, FATF, Structuring transaction, Cash movement
