Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 16) — A top official of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said all institutions covered by the agency should report any suspicious transactions or else face the possibility of both administrative and criminal sanctions.
“On the part of AMLC, kung sila ay very obvious na may maraming red flag indicators ngunit hindi sila nag-analyze or nagrequest ng additional information, na hindi sila nagfile ng suspicious transaction report sa AMLC, ito ay pwedeng maging basehan para sila ay ma-imposean ng both administrative sanction and criminal sanction,” AMLC Executive Director Mel Georgie Racela said at the Laging Handa briefing Wednesday.
[Translation: On the part of AMLC, if there are very obvious red flag indicators but these weren’t analyzed or they didn’t request additional information, and they didn’t file a suspicious transaction report with the AMLC, this can be grounds for them to receive both administrative sanction and criminal sanction.]
Racela said all persons covered by the AMLC — including banks and electronic money issuers — are obligated to have an electronic monitoring system.
He added that regardless of the amount, once red flags are seen, these covered entities have anti-money laundering analysts and investigators who can dig deeper.
The AMLC earlier released a list of red flags which could indicate suspicious transactions:
– significant or large transactions performed within a short period
– unjustified large cash deposits, withdrawals
– transactions seen as inconsistent with the customer’s financial profile or declared business
– unusual transactions or activities compared with normal daily dealings
– structured cash deposits, money transfers
– use of multiple accounts by a single transactor
– Use of several money service businesses to send funds
“Combined yan along with several factors, kasama na po ang location kung saan nakatira yung recipients and yung frequency — again mas madami around on or about election day — yung number of transferees and age,” Racela said at Wednesday’s briefing. “Lahat yan ay pagka kinombine ay nagiging red flag indicator. Maaring maging ground for filing or submitting a suspicious transaction report sa AMLC.”
[Translation: That, combined with several factors, along with location and frequency — again which are higher in number around on or about election day — the number of of transferees and age, all of that when combined, becomes a red flag indicator. This can be ground for filing or submitting a suspicious transaction report with the AMLC.]
Racela also said the AMLC is exempted from the Data Privacy Act.
“Sa hanay ng AMLC, as early as 2017 nakakuha na kami ng opinion sa National Privacy Commission na ang pagshare ng impormasyon ng AMLC ay exempted sa Data Privacy Act dahil ito ay mandato ng AMLC,” he said.
“As a financial intelligence unit, ang mandato po ay to preserve the integrity of the bank accounts and to ensure na ang Pilipinas ay hindi ginagamit to launder proceeds of unlawful activities,” he added.
[Translation: As early as 2017, we received an opinion from the Data Privacy Commission that sharing of information by the AMLC is exempted from the Data Privacy Act because it is the mandate of the AMLC. As a financial intelligence unit, the mandate is to preserve the integrity of bank accounts and to ensure the Philippines is not being used to launder proceeds of unlawful activities.]
