Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018

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Amendment of section 37 of Act of 2010

16. (1) Section 37 of the Act of 2010 is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) A designated person shall take steps to determine whether or not—

(a) a customer, or a beneficial owner connected with the customer or service concerned, or

(b) a beneficiary of a life assurance policy or other investment-related assurance policy, or a beneficial owner of the beneficiary,

is a politically exposed person or an immediate family member, or a close associate, of a politically exposed person.”,

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) The designated person shall take the steps referred to in subsection (1)—

(a) in relation to a person referred to subsection (1)(a), prior to—

(i) establishing a business relationship with the customer, or

(ii) carrying out an occasional transaction with, for or on behalf of the customer or assisting the customer to carry out an occasional transaction,

and

(b) in relation to a person mentioned in subsection (1)(b)—

(i) prior to the payout of the policy, or

(ii) at the time of the assignment, in whole or in part, of the policy.”,

(c) in subsection (3), by the insertion of “, or beneficiary” after “the customer”,

(d) in subsection (4)—

(i) by the deletion of “residing in a place outside the State”, and

(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) in addition to measures to be applied in accordance with section 35(3), apply enhanced monitoring of the business relationship with the customer.”,

(e) in subsection (5), by the insertion of “or financial institution” after “a credit institution”,

(f) in subsection (6), by the deletion of “residing in a place outside the State, and”,

(g) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

“(6A) If a designated person knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that a beneficiary of a life assurance or other investment-related assurance policy, or a beneficial owner of the beneficiary concerned, is a politically exposed person, or an immediate family member or a close associate of a politically exposed person, and that, having regard to section 39, there is a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, it shall—

(a) inform senior management before payout of policy proceeds, and

(b) conduct enhanced scrutiny of the business relationship with the policy holder.”,

(h) in subsection (7), by the substitution of “subsections (4), (6) and (6A)” for “subsections (4) and (6)”, and

(i) in the definition of “specified official” in subsection (10)—

(i) in paragraph (b), by the insertion of “or of a similar legislative body” after “a member of parliament”,

(ii) by the insertion after paragraph (b) of the following paragraph:

“(bb) a member of the governing body of a political party;”,

and

(iii) by the substitution for paragraph (e) of the following paragraphs:

“(e) an ambassador, chargé d’affairs or high-ranking officer in the armed forces;

(f) a director, deputy director or member of the board of, or person performing the equivalent function in relation to, an international organisation.”.