vboy
10-10-12, 09:43
S'pore to tighten laws against money laundering
04:46 AM Oct 10, 2012
SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will broaden the scope of money laundering to include funds from tax crimes from next July, the regulator said yesterday, as it sought to tighten laws and fortify the Republic's reputation as a trusted international financial centre.
As it launched its consultation paper on the designation of a broad range of tax crimes as money laundering predicate offences in Singapore, the MAS said the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act would be updated to include the designated offences.
"With the designation, financial institutions must apply the full suite of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism measures as contained in the relevant MAS notices, to prevent the laundering of proceeds from serious tax crimes," the regulator said.
"This involves the conduct of rigorous customer due diligence and transactions monitoring, as well as, proper reporting of suspicious transactions. Financial institutions must adequately identify and assess tax-related risks and take action to appropriately manage and mitigate those risks," it added.
The launch of the consultation paper comes days before German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble discusses revising Germany's bilateral tax treaty with Singapore during his visit to the Republic on Sunday.
The focus on Singapore comes amid growing concerns that German citizens who once stashed their wealth in secret Swiss bank accounts have begun to move funds here ahead of a new tax treaty with Switzerland that will make it harder for Germans to hide their money in Swiss accounts.
The MAS said it had warned banks last year to guard against funds being transferred into Singapore to evade taxation elsewhere, with an eye to new tax treaties being implemented in Europe. It did not tolerate such flows, and Singapore was cooperating with other countries to prevent the abuse of its financial system, a spokeswoman for the MAS said. WITH AGENCY REPORTS
04:46 AM Oct 10, 2012
SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will broaden the scope of money laundering to include funds from tax crimes from next July, the regulator said yesterday, as it sought to tighten laws and fortify the Republic's reputation as a trusted international financial centre.
As it launched its consultation paper on the designation of a broad range of tax crimes as money laundering predicate offences in Singapore, the MAS said the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act would be updated to include the designated offences.
"With the designation, financial institutions must apply the full suite of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism measures as contained in the relevant MAS notices, to prevent the laundering of proceeds from serious tax crimes," the regulator said.
"This involves the conduct of rigorous customer due diligence and transactions monitoring, as well as, proper reporting of suspicious transactions. Financial institutions must adequately identify and assess tax-related risks and take action to appropriately manage and mitigate those risks," it added.
The launch of the consultation paper comes days before German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble discusses revising Germany's bilateral tax treaty with Singapore during his visit to the Republic on Sunday.
The focus on Singapore comes amid growing concerns that German citizens who once stashed their wealth in secret Swiss bank accounts have begun to move funds here ahead of a new tax treaty with Switzerland that will make it harder for Germans to hide their money in Swiss accounts.
The MAS said it had warned banks last year to guard against funds being transferred into Singapore to evade taxation elsewhere, with an eye to new tax treaties being implemented in Europe. It did not tolerate such flows, and Singapore was cooperating with other countries to prevent the abuse of its financial system, a spokeswoman for the MAS said. WITH AGENCY REPORTS