The Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 is a tool that can be used to discourage terrorism and to prevent terrorist activities, as money laundering is the lifeline for terrorists. There are loopholes in prosecution of money laundering cases, which helps people to dodge the law and it is need of the hour to make better legislation for plugging the loopholes.
This was the consensus of the participants of the conference on 'Money Laundering and Implication for Counter-terrorism Efforts' organised by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), which was attended by parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, academia and media.
Baber Awan, Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, opened the conference, while Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director Pildat, Mansoor Ali, Senior Joint Director, Financial Monitoring Units, State Bank of Pakistan, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, President Research Society of International Law, Khalid Masood, former Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology, Malik Azmat Khan, Chairman National Assembly's Standing Committee on Economic Affairs and Statistics and Ayla Majid, financial consultant also addressed the conference.
The participants were of the view that there were lacunas not only in prosecution of money laundering cases, but also in the anti-terrorism laws, which helped terrorists to get acquitted from courts. They underlined the need of taking initiatives to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering laws by evolving a mechanism to eliminate the menace. Baber Awan said that country needs a broad-based and consensus legislation to counter the money laundering.
In 90s many pieces of legislation were introduced, but all were politically motivated, he said, adding that a comprehensive legislation would help in taking people involved in economic crimes to task and end money laundering completely. He stressed the need for documentation of Pakistan economy, saying that the documentation of economy at multiple levels will help address the money laundering and block the ways for illegal transaction of money to different charities.
He said that Pakistan was a frontline state in war against terrorism and was badly affected by terrorism, but unfortunately the promises being made by the international donors to make its law enforcements agencies well-equipped were not fulfilled.
He said that there was a dire need to check the global war industry, as war-mongers were fanning it for their survival. "If there is no war, the survival of war mongers and their armament industry will face threat so they fan war," he added. Awan announced to hold a Conference in collaboration with Pildat on implementation and prosecution of Anti Money-Laundering Act 2010 in the second week of January in Islamabad.
He also sought recommendations from Pildat on implementation on Anti Money-Laundering Act 2010. Khalid Masood, former chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology presented the ideological aspect of money laundering and said that the terms used in Islam for Money Laundering are 'to Abuse' or 'to Trespass. He said that ideological differences create a hurdle in effective implementation of anti- money laundering laws. Financial consultant Ayla Majid said, "a big threat the economy faces is in terms of not getting legitimate money documented and this has an impact on the fiscal and monitoring policy, and economy on the whole suffers."
Malik Azmat Khan, MNA and Chairman, National Assembly's Standing Committee on Economic Affairs and Statistics, thanked Pildat for holding a conference on such a pressing issue. He stressed the need of capacity building inside and outside the Parliament. In his welcome address Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director Pildat, said that money laundering was itself a crime and it did not have to be related to terrorism though the nexus between the two makes it a volatile combination.
As the technology develops further and global conditions change, new steps may need to be taken, including updating the relevant laws and keeping pace with the international community to meet the new challenges. Pakistan's Parliament, civil society and media should exercise their oversight functions to help the government meet the objectives of Ani-Money Laundering Laws and institutions established for counter terrorist financing.