Banks, accountants, lawyers, foreign exchange dealers and large and small private sector companies have been urged to be more vigilant in reporting suspicious transactions and detecting money laundering activities.
The call was made today by the Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde during the opening of the fourth National Anti-Money Laundering Conference at Holiday Inn, Suva.
The conference, which is being hosted by the Reserve Bank of Fiji, is attended by 160 officials from anti-money laundering practicing authorities.
Mr Pryde said money laundering fuels corruption and organised crime which is why early detection is vital to combat such activities.
“It is not only the lawyers and the accountants that need to be vigilant but also the public who are used by money launders and duped into assisting the concealing of illicit or stolen proceeds,” Mr Pryde said.
Since 2006, there have been a total of 4,054 suspicious transactions reported by various financial institutions in Fiji.
The Fijian Government over the last few years has reformed Fiji’s laws on money laundering and proceeds of crime.
Mr Pryde said the law in Fiji has been strengthened to keep up with emerging trends in money laundering with the use of tools such as civil and conviction based penalty applications in the courts.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under RBF implements the Financial Transactions Reporting (FTR) Act and the FTR Regulations in order to fight against money laundering , terrorist financing, fraudulent activities and other financial crimes in Fiji.
“Fiji has one of the most sophisticated anti-money laundering legal frameworks in the Pacific. We have further amended the Proceeds of Crimes Act to allow for the forfeiture of unexplained wealth,” Mr Pryde said.
“This, as yet untested device allows the DPP to make an application in court for the forfeiture of assets that are “unexplained” to the satisfaction of the court. In other words, the burden of proving that wealth is lawfully obtained is on the respondent or the person against whom the order is sought,” he added.
Mr Pryde said financial agencies need to work together in early detection of money laundering in order for authorities to quickly restrain the money and have it forfeited to the State.
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