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Financial Crimes
In June 2000, the Philippines had no laws against money laundering and found itself on the “NCCT List”—a list of non-cooperative countries and territories in the international fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. Immediately, hard-working and highly motivated public servants began—in advance of legislation—to work towards reversing their country’s status on the list. By 2004, sufficient progress had been made to remove the Philippines from the list of non-cooperative countries. The following activities helped reverse the Philippines’ status:
- The creation of an FIU and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). They immediately set up centralized law enforcement resources for prevention, detection, suppression, investigation, and prosecution of financial crimes;
- High-level policy councils were established to coordinate the financial crime fighting efforts of the DOJ and various governmental agencies;
- Civil forfeiture and other enforcement mechanisms were put into place with the Supreme Court and the Office of the Ombudsman;
- Working relationships were established with the FIUs of other nations, quickly resulting in action upon 80 requests from 17 nations for investigatory assistance; and
- Training courses were organized for development of a highly professional staff (the Secretariat) for the AMLC.
The Secretariat of the AMLC has characterized the removal of the Philippines from the list as “redemption” for the nation after suffering an uncomfortable period of international scorn. The FIU services provided by the AMLC are a model for the region. Squarely on the right track, the AMLC and the Philippines now strive to offer world-class services in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.
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