In process of tweaking laws to check money laundering: Pranab

Kochi, July 19 (PTI) Committed to the full implementation
of international standards to combat money laundering and
terror financing, India Tuesday said it was making suitable
amendments to converge the country's existing laws with the
recommendations of the global Financial Action Task Force.
In order to make the Prevention of Money Laundering and
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Acts more effective, India
was in the process of making 'suitable' amendments to the two
acts to bring them in line with the core and key
recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, Indian
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while inaugurating the
five-day meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group on 'Money
Laundering' here in the south Indian state Kerala.
He said, "The capabilities against money laundering and
terrorist financing should be strengthened by all nations to
ensure an effective, efficient and more productive crusade
against this menace."
Global responses to the challenges of money laundering
could be in the form of raising awareness about the
phenomenon, especially the socio-economic impact, creating the
necessary legal and institutional frameworks and effective law
enforcement and international cooperation, among others.
Stressing the need for mutual legal assistance,
especially in extradition and exchange of information and
intelligence among enforcement agencies, he said technical
assistance and cooperation must be strengthened in a "robust
manner".
Although it was not possible to make a suitable estimate
of the amount of money laundered, the quantum of money
generated from criminal activities and laundered throughout
the world is believed to be several billions of dollars, up to
as much as 2 to 5 per cent of the global GDP, he said.
Left unchecked, money laundering can undermine the
integrity of any financial system and embroil individual
financial institutions in share-crippling financial scandals,
he said, calling for collective efforts to deal with it
"ruthlessly".

The huge quantum of money being generated from criminal
activities and money laundering gave the beneficiaries a "lot
of muscle" and "certainly enough means to threaten political
stability worldwide", Mukherjee said.
He said the cross-border linkages of money laundering
made it increasingly necessary to make collective efforts in
dealing with it "ruthlessly".
Liberalisation and deregulation of national economies had
together created both "opportunities and risks" for society,
he said.
Noting that the socio-economic effects of money
laundering are crippling, he said illicit funds generated from
criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, extortion, gun
running, drug and human trafficking and other forms of
organised crime were laundered into clean currency and in turn
used to fund more illegal firearms, more violent crimes and --
"most disconcertingly" -- more international terrorism.
India's anti-money laundering legislation, the Prevention
of Money Laundering Act, 2002, presently covers 156 offences
under 28 different statutes as predicate offences. The
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) act deals with terror and
combating funding of terror.
The country has established a Financial Intelligence Unit
and evolved a system of reporting suspicious financial
transactions. The manpower in the Directorate of Enforcement,
which is spearheading money laundering investigations, was
recently augmented three-fold, he said.
India has been playing a proactive role in the comity of
nations in dealing with money laundering and would continue to
contribute significantly in global efforts to prevent money
laundering and maintain the integrity of financial systems,
Mukherjee said.
FATF President Giancarlo Del Bufalo, APG co-chair and
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, APG
Executive Secretary Gordon Hook and APG co-chair and Secretary
to the government of India K Jose Cyriac are among the 350
senior officials from the Asia-Pacific region and around the
world participating in the meeting.
The meeting will provide a platform for high level
discussion and cooperation and evaluation of progress made by
APG members in implementing the international standards to
combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.