Australian Housing is the “Destination of Choice” for Money Laundering – Says Serena Lilywhite

Richard Marley
November 11, 2021
3 minutes read
2520

Weak, outdated money laundering and terrorist financing laws are creating havoc in the real estate sector of Australia.

Serena Lillywhite, Transparency International Australia’ (TIA) Chief Executive, says that due to weak and outdated laws, Australian housing has become the hub of illicit funds and is responsible for “locking many Australians out of owning their own homes.”

The Senate investigated the intensity of Australia’s AML/CFT laws and learned from TIA and its director, Russel Wilson, about the lack of implementation. The Senate said that the “flow of illegal funds end up in the real estate sector” when the Reserve Bank Of Australia (RBA) provided a list of 10 publically reported examples of money laundering into the Australian market from Sudan, Chinese high rollers, Papua New Guinea and Russia.

The main culprits to Australia’s weak anti-money laundering regime, according to Lilywhite, are the “flaws with the corporate registry, and the lack of UBO register.” It is mainly because they have largely remained the same ever since AML/CFT laws were introduced in 2006.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Widespread money laundering in property locking out Australians from owning homes, Senate told. Australia is the go to destination for dirty money ⁦<a href=”https://twitter.com/knausc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@knausc</a>⁩ ⁦<a href=”https://twitter.com/TIAustralia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@TIAustralia</a>⁩ ⁦<a href=”https://twitter.com/anticorruption?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@anticorruption</a>⁩ <a href=”https://t.co/0c4i2yz9de”>https://t.co/0c4i2yz9de</a></p>— Serena Lillywhite (@SJLillywhite) <a href=”https://twitter.com/SJLillywhite/status/1458163048082857984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

She further added, “Money laundering is not a faceless crime and has devastating impacts both overseas and within the country” and “It can reasonably be argued that it is driving up property prices in Australia and locking many citizens out of owning their own homes.”

She further added that she understands the regulatory burden of implementing AML/CFT laws hence opposed by the lawyers, accountants, and real estate agents.

Transparency International then said that money launderers adopt various methods outside the detection capacity of AUSTRAC.

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IMF Urges Central Bank of Seychelles to Upgrade Transparency and AML Controls
The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) has been advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to have transparent practices and AML controls.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged CBS, the Central Bank of Seychelles, to incorporate refined practices in different accountability and governance areas. These include confidentiality, supervisory & confidentiality policies along with internal AML/CFT protocols.

According to the statement by IMF, CBS is giving information regarding legal structure, mandate, and a few key elements related to anti-corruption arrangements, risk and human resource management, and accountability on its website.

The review of IMF stated, “To better support the public’s perception of the CBS as a well-governed institution, it should consider highlighting these aspects in its annual report, and/or provide additional information on its website, particularly on human capital management, anti-corruption policies and decision-making arrangements.”

As per IMF’s review, CBS needs to work on several elements, including information’s accessibility to its internal governance arrangements. It could be done by maintaining the Annual Report’s respective sections and website. Moreover, it must overhaul the proceedings by publishing its Code of Conduct and Ethics.

“The legal mechanism for confidentiality issues has been established, but the dissemination and disclosure of the confidentiality framework could be enhanced. The CBS discloses basic information on its AML/CFT supervisory powers and policies, as well as on its related internal control framework, but disclosures on the processes and outcomes of its AML/CFT external policies and internal controls are limited,” said CBS Transparency Code Review of IMF.

IMF review said that the ensurance of transparency practices with new functions and powers by CBS would be effective for its own benefit. The practices adopted by CBS must comply with the powers acquired by the coming legislative act.

IMF’s CBS Transparency Code Review said, “In the last few years, the CBS’s regulatory powers have been substantially expanded with the adoption of AML/CFT Act and Financial Consumer Protection Act. Moreover, the forthcoming Financial Stability Act is expected to provide a transparent legal basis for the CBS’s (and other financial sector regulators) actions on financial stability. These legislative acts will require an expansion of the CBS’s transparency practices so that the related CBS activities continue to be appropriately disclosed to stakeholders.”

The review aims to identify the strength and improvement areas of CBS by allowing it to evaluate its transparency practices. The review presents the map of CBS’s transparency choices in comparison to several practices in three different categories (core, comprehensive, and expanded).

Suggested Read: FCA Advises Firms to Embed Data and Technology to Combat Financial Crimes

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Australian Housing is the “Destination of Choice” for Money Laundering – Says Serena Lilywhite

An Overview of Perpetual KYC

The Need for Perpetual KYC in Banking Sector

Recent Crime Cases in the Banking Industry

Criminal Gang in US Charged with Bank Fraud and Money Laundering

Two Former Employees of Major Bank Charged with Loan Fraud

Global Regulatory Authorities Monitoring the Banking Sector

US

UK

Securing Banking Organizations Through Perpetual KYC

What Shufti Pro Offers?

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