KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): Malaysia is taking steps to strengthen its regime on anti-money laundering, and the countering of financing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/CPF), the central bank said.
A new National Coordination Committee to Counter Money Laundering Roadmap is currently being developed, which will outline key initiatives in the areas of investigation, enforcement, coordination and capacity building, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor Marzunisham Omar.
The Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, the primary legislation also known as AMLA, is also being reviewed to address “gaps and implementation issues, particularly in matters relating to regulation, supervision and enforcement,” he said.
Marzunisham's opening remarks at the Malaysia Assessed Country Training came ahead of the next round of review by the multilateral Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Malaysia is among the first set of countries that will go through the mutual evaluation process that will begin with the submission of the technical compliance on select recommendations in June 2024.
Submission of the effectiveness of Malaysia’s AML/CFT/CPF regime will follow in September 2024, before an on-site visit in February 2025. The mutual evaluation report is scheduled to be tabled during the FATF Plenary in October 2025.
Other priorities for Malaysia, Marzunisham continued, include updating its targeted risk assessments to sharpen understanding in the areas of proliferation financing, virtual assets, legal persons and legal arrangements.
“Our particular focus at present is on vulnerabilities associated with beneficial ownership and foreign-created entities,” Marzunisham said.
BNM had undertaken 291 supervisory and enforcement actions on financial institutions, and forfeited assets from illegal activities amounting to about RM11 million.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of BNM had also shared financial intelligence with domestic law enforcement agencies and more than 50 foreign counterparts, with 71% of the disclosures relating to high-risk crimes.
Marzunisham also stressed the importance of strengthening coordination for joint actions, noting that raids and arrests coordinated by the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre and Multi-Agency Task Force have led to investigations and prosecutions of money laundering and predicate offences.
For instance, he pointed to the Ops Tropicana in February 2023, where financial intelligence-sharing and intelligence-based investigations enabled coordinated joint actions by Malaysian law enforcement agencies.
“In this case, investigators uncovered professional enablers, such as accountants and company secretaries facilitating the operations of illegal syndicates,” Marzunisham added.