Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024 enhancing AML/CFT regime partially in force: Allen & Gledhill

6 December 2024

The Anti‑Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024 (“Act”) partially came into operation on 14 November 2024. The Act aims to:

enhance the ability of law enforcement agencies (“LEAs”) to pursue and prosecute money laundering (“ML”) offences;
clarify and improve processes to deal with seized or restrained properties linked to suspected criminal activities; and
align the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) framework for casino operators with the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) standards.

On 13 November 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs (“MHA”) issued a press release on the provisions of the Act that have come into force. Details are set out below:

Facilitating prosecution of ML cases arising from criminal conduct abroad: To facilitate the prosecution of money launderers, especially in cases where the monies laundered were layered through bank accounts or intermediaries in foreign jurisdictions before entering Singapore, the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 (“CDSA”) has been amended such that the Prosecution need not show a direct link for certain ML offences. It suffices for the Prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the money launderer knew or had reasonable grounds to believe he was dealing with criminal proceeds. Previously, where the criminal conduct was committed outside Singapore, the authorities had to show the complete trail of the monies from the point the crime was committed overseas to the point the monies were deposited with the money launderer, and this was often challenging.
Foreign environmental crimes designated as ML predicate offences: A Third Schedule has been introduced in the CDSA, designating foreign serious environmental crimes such as illegal mining, illegal waste trafficking, and illegal logging as ML predicate offences. LEAs may thus pursue investigations into ML offences if it is suspected that the monies in Singapore are derived from such crimes committed overseas.
Cross-agency data sharing for better detection of ML, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing: Changes have been made to the Income Tax Act 1947, Goods and Services Tax Act 1993, Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995, and Free Trade Zones Act 1966 to enhance authorities’ ability to detect ML, terrorism financing (“TF”), and proliferation financing (“PF”). The changes enable the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and Singapore Customs to share tax data and trade data respectively with the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office of the Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department. In addition, changes to the CDSA enable AML/CFT regulators, such as the Council for Estate Agencies and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, to have access to suspicious transaction reports filed by their respective regulated entities.
Dealing with seized properties where the suspect has absconded: Changes have been made to the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 to tighten how seized properties linked to absconded persons are dealt with. These changes enable the Government to better deal with absconded suspects through depriving them of the financial gains of their ML and other criminal activities if they refuse to return to Singapore for investigations.
- The court must not dispose of the seized property if it is satisfied that there are ongoing investigations into the absconded person;
- An absconded person has to personally present himself to a law enforcement officer to assist in the investigations before he can make a claim to the seized properties; and
- The court may consider whether the property was obtained through legitimate sources, such as income or investments, before the seized property may be released to a third party, even if that party has not committed any crimes. It will not be sufficient for that party to prove his entitlement to the property simply because it is a gift from the absconded person.
Align AML/CFT framework for casino operators with FATF standards: The Casino Control Act 2006 has been amended to tighten the requirements for casino operators to detect and prevent ML/TF/ PF, in accordance with the FATF standards. Casino operators are required to consider PF risks when conducting customer due diligence (“CDD”) checks, in addition to ML/TF risks. Further, casino operators are required to perform CDD checks on patrons for single cash transactions or deposits involving S$4,000 or more.