Anti-Money Laundering Council: Tracking Dirty Peso

Abstract

The research aims to evaluate the performance of the financial intelligence unit tasked to investigate and prosecute money laundering offenses, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). The research looks into the efforts of the government and the banking sector in addressing the issue, policies and programs of the AMLC, prevalence of money laundering activities and how the programs and policies of the AMLC translates into its effectiveness. The goal of money laundering is to make proceeds of illegal activities appear to have come from legitimate sources. It is a big problem for it provides incentives for criminals to continue their illegal activities. The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (AMLA) is the Philippines’ answer to the global fight against money laundering. AMLA criminalizes money laundering and provides penalties for its commission including fines and penalties. Most importantly, it paved the way for the establishment of the AMLC. The AMLC regulates and supervises covered institutions and ensure that they are compliant with anti-money laundering policies. The AMLC issues guidelines in order to prevent money laundering and takes necessary actions when the problem has already occurred. The banking sector, perceived as the most used institutions to launder proceeds of crime, plays a big role in the prevention of money laundering through customer due diligence, which includes customer identification and record keeping, and reporting of covered and suspicious transactions. The AMLC, on the other hand, investigates into the occurrence of money laundering and proceeds to file a case with courts to initiate the prosecution of money laundering offenses. AMLA has provisions for punishing money laundering offenders and confiscating proceeds of crime. Given the international character of money laundering, the Philippines is compliant with global standards on anti-money laundering and is a member of an international organization of financial intelligence units. Its membership provides AMLC unlimited access to the organization’s financial database, hence keeping the country abreast with money laundering trends. Also, the Philippines has ratified bilateral memoranda of understanding with other jurisdictions in order to extend assistance. The research concludes with the statement that the AMLC effectively responds to money laundering through prevention and enforcement and has been successful in attaining its mission to reduce the number of money laundering cases, protect and preserve the integrity of financial institutions and extend mutual assistance among states.