New committee to combat money laundering and terrorism financing

An agreement to set up an inter-departmental forum on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has been reached between finance minister Malusi Gigaba and justice minister Michael Masutha.

This would replace the Counter Money Laundering Advisory Council (CMLAC) and would aim to improve the quality of consultation for the implementation of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.

Gigaba said in a written reply to a parliamentary question by Democratic Alliance finance spokesman David Maynier that the mandate of the forum or committee "would be to promote discussion‚ collaboration and coordination between the relevant law enforcement agencies‚ government departments and regulatory authorities to ensure that the South African authorities are more effective in implementing both the spirit and letter of the complete legal framework against money laundering and terrorist financing.

"In addition‚ a consultative structure to facilitate engagements with accountable institutions in the private sector is also being established with a banking sector unit anti money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism steering committee already having been established."

Gigaba said Treasury had published a consultation document to seek public comments on these new consultation mechanisms. "We will monitor how well these consultation forums work over [a] year or two‚ and thereafter make a decision on how best to formalise the consultation forums‚" the minister said.

"We want to deepen and improve our consultative mechanisms to strengthen implementation. The CMLAC played a significant role in the drafting of the initial regulations of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act when it was first enacted in 2003‚ but was not as effective as a forum for implementation‚" Gigaba said.