Maximum jail term for money laundering raised to 10 years

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/maximum-jail-term-money-laundering-raised-10-years

As part of efforts to dampen transnational money laundering activities, Parliament yesterday passed amendments to laws, allowing the Government to deal more swiftly with criminal operations and deprive perpetrators of their illicit gains.

Some of the changes to the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act include increasing the maximum penalty for money laundering from seven to 10 years in jail and lowering the threshold for cross-border cash reporting by a third.

Amendments were also made to make it easier to investigate and prosecute foreign predicate offences, which are crimes that generate criminal proceeds for laundering. For instance, instead of having to first obtain a certificate from a foreign country establishing the offence, enforcement agencies here can now accept other evidence such as court judgments and statements by experts.

Another change to the Act is expanding it to include the precious-stones and metal-dealers sector, such that dealers are required to verify a customer’s identity and file a report with the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office for cash sales exceeding S$20,000. Such cash transaction records and the relevant supporting documents are to be kept for five years from the date of filing.

The dual criminality requirement for foreign tax evasion offences will also be removed, as long as the offence is criminalised in the foreign jurisdiction and is committed “wilfully” with the intent to evade tax.