Quagmires in the AML/CFT regimes in Malaysia

• Published in: Recent Trends in Social and Behaviour Sciences - Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Interdisciplinary Behavior and Social Sciences 2013, ICIBSoS 2013
• Main Author: Hamin Z.; Wan Rosli W.R.; Omar N.; Awang Mahmud A.A.R.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor and Francis - Balkema 2014
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84894786130&doi=10.1201%2fb16658-108&partnerID=40&md5=daae9c20d2ca697afbdbc2200ab22afc
• DOI: 10.1201/b16658-108

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the existing legal and regulatory problems in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorism Financing regimes in Malaysia including the substantive defects in theAML/CFTlegislation including the exclusion of certain offences from the predicate offence lists and the comparatively lowpenalty for money laundering. This paper employs a doctrinal legal analysis and secondary data, which analyses the primary source, which is the Anti-Money Laundering andTerrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA) itself, and secondary sources including case law, articles in academic journals, books and online databases.The authors contend that despite efforts by Malaysia to adhere to the FATF Recommendations, legal and regulatory deficiencies inthe AML/CFT regime remain, which should be addressed immediately in order to prevent and regulate money laundering and terrorism financing occurring within the country. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group.