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The Director General of the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, Mr Gil Galvao, shared his experience in anti-money laundering measures from a global perspective at a seminar organised by the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau today (February 27).

Mr. Galvao was speaking in his capacity as the former President of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) (1999/2000), a preeminent international organization established after a G-7 Summit in 1989 to examine and recommend anti-money laundering standards and promote anti-money laundering messages worldwide.

Hong Kong was selected as the President of FATF for 2001/2002. The Commissioner for Narcotics, Mrs Clarie Lo, who is the overall coordinator of anti-drug and anti-money laundering policies, will take up the duty of the FATF President as from July 2001.

At the seminar, Mr Galvao gave a presentation on the global action against money laundering and the FATF experience in countering money laundering.

Topics covered in his talk include the development of FATF's Forty Recommendations, the importance and advantages of mutual evaluations among member jurisdictions, FATF's mission to spread the anti-money laundering messages to non-member countries and territories, the work of FATF in the past ten years and recent developments in the European Union.

Also speaking at the seminar, Mrs Lo said Hong Kong was fully committed to the fight against money laundering. "Hong Kong believes in continuously improving its legislative framework to make it more difficult for drug traffickers and other serious crime offenders to launder or retain their illicit profits," she said.

"In 2000, the Organized and Serious Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council. It came into operation on 1 June 2000, requiring money changers and remittance agents to follow anti-money laundering measures such as customer identification and keeping of transaction records for transactions over HK$20,000. This Ordinance effectively helps prevent criminals from using these non-bank financial businesses as conduits for money laundering.

"We also introduced into the Legislative Council the Drug Trafficking and Organized Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2000, with a view to enhancing confiscation provisions and increasing penalties for money laundering offences," she added.

Hong Kong's anti-money laundering regime is in compliance with the FATF's Forty Recommendations. Hong Kong was comprehensively evaluated twice by FATF in 1994 and 1998. In the latest evaluation report, Hong Kong's comprehensive anti-money laundering systems and its continuing efforts in improving such systems since the 1994 evaluation exercise were highly commended.

Hong Kong has been a member of FATF since 1990. Hong Kong is also a founding and active member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a FATF style regional body, since 1997. Apart from participating actively in FATF meetings, Hong Kong has hosted a workshop to train up experts on anti-money laundering issues in the region.

Mrs Lo said Hong Kong's efforts in anti-money laundering were well recognized by the international community. "The fact that Hong Kong has been selected to take over the FATF Presidency in July 2001 speaks highly of our achievements. Being one of the world's major financial centers with an effective anti-money laundering regime, Hong Kong is well placed to lead FATF in countering money laundering globally and assist other jurisdictions against such risks regionally."

"As money laundering is closely linked to organized crimes and drug trafficking, Hong Kong's leading role in FATF will further demonstrate our commitment to international cooperation in stemming transnational crimes, money laundering activities and drug trafficking," she said.

Mrs Lo appealed to the private sector for continued support in the fight against money laundering. "The cooperation from the private sector has led to a more than ten-time increase in the number of suspicious transaction reports filed with the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit run by the Police and the Customs in the past six years. This has in turn facilitated our law enforcement agencies to investigate money laundering activities in a much more difficult manner," she said.

Mr. Galvao is on a week-long visit in the territory to gain a better understanding of the economic, political and social developments of Hong Kong.

The seminar was well attended by over 160 experts in the legal, financial, regulatory and law enforcement fields as well as representatives of the financial services sector. They include the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, Hong Kong Association of Banks, Deposit Taking Companies Association, major banks in Hong Kong as well as the Narcotics Division, Department of Justice, Hong Kong Police Force, Customs and Excise Department, Education Department and the Action Committee Against Narcotics.

Foot Note : FATF members include the following jurisdictions :

Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Luxembourg; Mexico; Kingdom of the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; Singapore; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; United Kingdom; United States; European Commission; Gulf Cooperation Council.

End/Tuesday, February 27, 2001

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