RP passes money

RP passes money laundering bill

AFP Manila

House of Representatives members have passed a bill to outlaw money laundering, raising hopes the Philippines will escape sanctions from industrialized nations, officials said Thursday.

House economic affairs committee chairman Oscar Moreno said the measure would establish an anti-money laundering unit in the central bank, which would be empowered to look into suspect accounts subject to a court order.

The proposed law would limit the scope of crimes covered under the law to graft, kidnapping and drug trafficking, and for bank accounts containing deposits of at least five million pesos (about 98,000 dollars), he said on local television.

Central bank governor Rafael Buenaventura told AFP he now expected the Senate to pass its version later Thursday so Arroyo could sign the law on Friday.

"That would mean that we would be able to meet the Sept. 30 deadline and there would be no additional sanctions imposed pending a review of the law," he said.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- a Paris-based anti- money laundering body set up by the Group of Seven industrialized countries -- had given the Philippines until Sept. 30 to outlaw money laundering or face sanctions from its members.

However an opposition legislator warned that the proposed legislation has been so "watered down" as to risk failing to satisfy the FATF requirements.

"The senate bill has been so severely watered down that instead of coming out with a tiger it looks like we're only going to produce a pussycat," said Senator Sergio Osmena, whose original version of the bill had listed 31 crimes that would be subjected to investigation.

"We're leaving such big holes," he said, and suggested that the emerging legislation would in effect signal that "if you're a swindler, if you're a robber, if you're engaged in smuggling, these are not included anymore."

He said many legislators were particularly opposed to excluding suspected proceeds from tax evasion from the scope of the proposed law.

Moreno said that he would have preferred the legislation did not include the need for a court order. But there was a danger the law would not have been passed at all, increasing risks of FATF-inspired sanctions.

He also defended the limited number of crimes for which money laundering investigations may be launched.

"We need to focus on the crimes that the anti-money laundering group has wanted to us to pursue. These are essentially the transnational crimes and drug-related crimes," he said.

House banking committee chairman Jaime Lopez said: "Barring unforeseen events... the president may be able to sign the bill at the latest by Saturday."