Anti-money (AML) is a term mainly used in the financial and legal industries to describe the

legal controls that require financial institutions and other regulated entities to prevent or report

money laundering activities.

most financial institutions globally, and many non-financial institutions, are required to identify and

report transactions of a suspicious nature to the financial intelligence unit in the respective country. For

example, a bank must perform due diligence by verifying a customer's identity and monitor transactions

for suspicious activity. To do this, many financial institutions utilize the services of special software, and

use the services of companies such as C6 to gather information about high risk individuals and

organizations.United States federal law related to money laundering is implemented under the Bank

Secrecy Act of 1970 as amended by anti-money laundering acts up to the present.

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Written Anti Money Laundering Procedures Each registered intermediary should adopt written procedures toi mplement the anti money laundering provisions as envisaged under the Anti Money Laundering Act, 2002. Such procedures should include inter alia, the following three specific parameters which are related to the overall Client. Due Diligence Process’: a. Policy for acceptance of clients b. Procedure for identifying the clients c. Transaction monitoring and reporting especially suspicious transaction reporting. Customer Due Dilligence The customer due diligence (“CDD”) measures comprise the following: a)Obtaining sufficient information in order to identify persons who beneficially own or control securities account. Whenever it is apparent that the securities acquired or maintained through an account are beneficially

owned by a party other than the client, that party should be identified using client identification and verification procedures. The beneficial owner is the natural person or persons who ultimately own, control or influence a client and/or persons on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. It also incorporates those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.

b) Verify the customers identify using reliable, independent source documents, data or information. c) Identify beneficial ownership and control, i.e. determine which individual(s) ultimately own(s) or control(s) the customer and/or the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. d) Verify the identity of the beneficial owner of the customer and/or the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, corroborating the information pr ovided in relation to (c).

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Money laundering is one of the ongoing problems facing the international economy, and from the evidence studied while researching this work, it can be seen that while the fundamentals of

this crime remains largely the same, technology has offered, and will continue to offer a more sophisticated and circuitous means to convert ill-gotten proceeds into legal tender and assets. The

largely unchecked growth of the Internet presents what has been described as the "Armageddon scenario of banking on the `Net - criminals could have money transferred without any audit trail". There is a total absence of regulation of the Internet and it has been recognised that

authorities need to ensure that legislation keeps abreast of technology in order to understand and pick up on any new techniques that professional money launderers may come up with.

There is also a growing realisation about the extent that money laundering and its relationship

with organised crime are interlinked. The huge profits that accrue to these criminals from such areas as drug trafficking, international fraud, advance fee fraud, long firm fraud, arms dealing,

trafficking in human organs and tissue, etc., will be used not only to facilitate ongoing operations, but to consolidate the wealth, prestige and respectability of those in control of the criminal business. Drug trafficking remains the largest single generator of illegal proceeds:

Robinson (1994) stated that more money is spent world-wide on illicit drugs than on food. However, non-drug related crime is increasingly significant.

The characteristics of organised crime are evident in money laundering:

it is a group activity, in that it is carried out often by more than one person;

it is a criminal activity which is long term and continuing; it is a criminal activity which is carried out irrespective of national boundaries; it is large scale; and

it generates proceeds which are often made available for licit use.

These characteristics define a very particular kind of serious criminal activity which, at its most developed, is highly sophisticated and complex. The degree of organisation that is displayed in

money laundering is therefore of particular concern because of its scale, its capacity to exploit and influence the legitimate business world and its capacity for internationalisation. These

concerns have led to concerted international action for a solution to combat this growing menace called Money Laundering. This is particularly evident, not only in the formation of the FATF but also in international agreements and legislation. In fact, a watershed in the fight against money

laundering was the publication of the FATF 40 Recommendations in 1990 - recently updated in 1996.

Conclusion

Money Laundering is a serious, highly sophisticated and global criminal activity. The degree

of organization displayed in Money Laundering is a major cause for concern of banks and

bank supervisors. Banks and other financial institutions can protect themselves against

Money Laundering by implementing an effective KYC Policy, knowing their customers,

checking the source of funds, monitoring the conduct of accounts, and by learning to recognize suspicious/ irregular transactions.

Acknowledgements, Sources and References:

1. My article on "Money Laundering" published in the IBA Bulletin

2. The Web pages of the Financial Action Task Force

3. The Web pages of the BIS

4. The Web Pages of the Government of India

The old laws of the country did not really recognize the menace. There was very little check on

conversion of black money into white, the only check was chapter XXC of Income Tax Act, 1961 which

monitored acquisition of immovable property in major cities over the prescribed value and even this

provision was made inoperative since 1st July 2002.

FERA imposed restrictions on transfer money outside India and therefore it helped as a check to

transfer of tainted money. But to overcome this launderers used the non banking channels like

hawala. Also for a very long time India has been importing dirty money by over invoicing goods but

this has not helped in exporting dirty money as the taxes levied on imported goods negate the

viability of such dealings. Also there was no provision in Customs Act, 1962 up till 2003, to deal with

over invoicing of goods.

Since FEMA came into force on 3rd June 2000, all current account transactions are free from

restrictions except for those mentioned in three schedules to FEM (Current Account Transactions)

Rules, 2000. On the capital account side, there is a restriction of reporting of transactions mentioned

in schedules I and II and therefore it is very easy for launderer to launder money without even

touching the two schedules. Further Schedule III of the Act provides for cap on certain transactions

relating to expenses for education, medical treatment, donation etc. within which if money is to be

transferred abroad, no prior permission of RBI is required.

Other laws that had some role to play in prevention of money laundering are-

The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988

The Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985

The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988

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