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Criminals use real estate transactions in PH to wash dirty money — anti-money laundering body

Criminals are using real estate transactions to launder dirty money in the Philippines, a top official of the Anti-Money Laundering Council revealed. AMLC Executive Director Atty. Mel Racela confirmed this during a Senate hearing on Wednesday after lawmakers asked him why real estate developers and brokers should report cash transactions… Read More

Philippines’ Duterte orders graft probe across state agencies

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he had ordered the justice ministry to launch a sweeping investigation into graft across all government agencies, conceding that his country continued to be “plagued with corruption.” In 2016, Duterte won the presidency campaigning on a promise to fight corruption, crime and illegal… Read More

Company ownership secrecy prevails in Southeast Asia, UN report says

Southeast Asian countries are lagging behind in the adoption of registries with information on companies’ true owners, a tool deemed crucial to fight corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “While transparency in the banking sector is… Read More

28th October 2020

Philippines: Senate to tackle proposals to amend AMLA

The Senate will start hearing the proposals to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) to help boost the government’s efforts against the entry and flow of illegal money in the Philippines. “We expect to have an all-hands-on-deck involvement of top officials of concerned agencies in tackling this vital anti-corruption and… Read More

22nd October 2020

Westpac’s ties to Puerto Rico Bank Euro Pacific spark calls for financial crime reform

Westpac’s links to an offshore bank at the centre of a sweeping international money laundering and tax evasion probe have sparked fresh calls for reform of the financial sector’s approach to curbing crime. The nation’s second biggest bank, which was embroiled in a major money laundering scandal last year that… Read More

1st October 2020

Philippines set to issue revised rules on virtual assets

The BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) is reportedly revising guidelines on VCEs (virtual currency exchanges) and EMIs (electronic money issuers) to tighten possible regulatory gaps in its existing rules for VASP (virtual asset service providers). According to Manila Bulletin, the accelerated growth in virtual assets and the associated regulatory… Read More

29th September 2020

Class action lawyers eye Westpac settlement

The principal lawyer leading a class action against the country’s second largest bank has said the mammoth settlement agreement over its money laundering charges would spell good news for claimants. Tim Finney, director of Melbourne law firm Phi Finney McDonald, said the $1.3 billion penalty agreement between Westpac and the… Read More

24th September 2020

Commonwealth Bank and St George held accounts for Options Rider investor scam, FinCEN files show

A friend recommended Carmelita Roque invest her savings in Options Rider. Options Rider’s use of Australian banks gave the US Army soldier comfort her money was safe. “Seeing the money that I would be wiring would be going to a country like Australia, in my mind that was convincing enough… Read More

22nd September 2020

PH money remitters flagged in millions of dollars in ‘suspicious’ transactions

Filipino remittance firms were investigated in the aftermath of the 2016 cyber-heist that siphoned off $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh. Documents now show that a few years before the daring theft, these remittance firms had moved millions of U.S. dollars in “suspicious” transactions, raising the question as… Read More

17th September 2020

Philippines saw surge in child pornography-linked money laundering during pandemic

Authorities have detected an increase in financial transactions linked to the online sexual exploitation of children in the country in recent months as the economic challenges brought about the coronavirus pandemic drove more people into child pornography. Thus said the Anti-Money Laundering Council in a study it released on Wednesday,… Read More

15th September 2020

Philippines faces FATF sanctions

The Philippines is in danger of being included anew in the gray list of Paris-based dirty money watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) if the country fails to pass the necessary amendments to the anti-money laundering law, according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). AMLC Secretariat executive director Mel Georgie… Read More

14th September 2020

Philippines says 57 people under scrutiny on Wirecard case

The Philippines’ anti-money laundering authority has identified 57 “persons of interest,” including foreigners and local bank officers and government officials, whose links to Wirecard AG are being scrutinized. Authorities are analyzing the transactions of these people who are “not necessarily the accused or respondents in a criminal case,” Mel… Read More

11th September 2020

Westpac’s Peter King cautious on Pacific after AUSTRAC

Westpac chief Peter King said the consequences of breaching anti-money laundering laws are so large that the bank can’t guarantee it will be able to continue to provide remittance services for workers in Australia looking to send money home to the Pacific. Briefing the House of Representatives economics committee on… Read More

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