Op 5 juni 2013 stuurde de CC BE, de “Council of Bars & Law Societies of Europe“, aan FATF een brief over de “Draft FATF typologies report on money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities of legal professionals“. Men schrijft dat het concept rapport van FATF niet aan de verwachtingen voldoet:

Unfortunately, it appears that the report ended up as a compilation of “cases” regarding, to a large extent, hypotheses where lawyers would deliberately be involved in criminal activities in collusion with their clients.

Therefore, the typology initially foreseen to be prepared is absent from the report and the notion of “red flag” indicators have been utterly diverted from their initial objective. As a consequence the outcome of the project lacks interest and has no pedagogical purpose.

The CCBE suggests that the FATF should return to its initial project and remove from the report all the hypotheses that do not represent cases of unwitting participation in money laundering activities. If the FATF fails to do so, the CCBE sees no purpose in commenting further on the report as it is removed from its initial aim.

Lawyers, when advising their clients on the law governing a particular situation, contribute towards preventing any future violations of the law. I hope our well intentioned concerns, together with those of the ABA, the IBA and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, are taken into account, as this would demonstrate the commitment of the FATF to real cooperation now and in the future, and it would turn the exercise into one of usefulness rather than a missed opportunity.

Ondanks kritische geluiden over het nut van de huidige antiwitwaswetgeving (zie onder meer het proefschrift van Gelemerova) lijkt de FATF-trein vrolijk verder te denderen, zo blijkt uit onderstaande twee berichten in de meest recente nieuwsbrief van de CC BE.

FATF meeting – London 25/26 April

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) organised a meeting of the Private Sector Consultative Forum in London on 25/26 April to discuss aspects of the revised antimoney laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/ CFT) framework. The Private Sector Consultative Forum consists of representatives of the financial sector and other businesses and professions subject to AML/CFT obligations (over 60 representatives were present). The CC BE participated in the meeting. The meeting discussed recent FATF activities and developments, for example, the adoption of the revised FATF Methodology regarding the evaluation of the Recommendations. Some of the other issues discussed included data protection and privacy rules (and their effect on the implementation of AML/CFT measures), the riskbased approach (challenges by the private sector in applying a risk-based approach, in particular in relation to the identification of risks), good practices in identifying beneficial owners, and Guidance on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPS).

Draft typologies report on money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities of legal professionals

The FATF Working Group organised a meeting in London on 14 May where a draft typologies report on money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities of legal professionals was discussed. The CC BE was represented at that meeting by the chair of the Anti- Money Laundering Committee, Anne Birgitte Gammeljord. A number of CC BE member Bars were also invited to the meeting in addition to a number of international bars.

Aanvulling 29 oktober 2013
Zie voorts de verklaring op pagina 2, onderaan, van de nieuwsbrief van de CC BE van oktober 2013, waarin de CC BE benadrukt dat zij zeer ontevreden zijn over het FATF-rapport over de juridische beroepsgroepen.

Aanvulling 5 november 2014
Vandaag heeft de IBA bekend gemaakt dat een AML-gids voor juristen is uitgebracht, lees dit bericht.