Money laundering bill passed by voice vote in parliament

The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011
The Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was
introduced by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee in the
Lok Sabha on December 27, 2011. This Bill seeks to amend the
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The Bills proposes to introduce the concept of ‘corresponding law’ to
link the provisions of Indian law with the laws of foreign countries. It
also adds the concept of ‘reporting entity’ which would include a
banking company, financial institution, intermediary or a person
carrying on a designated business or profession.
The Bill expands the definition of offence under money laundering to
include activities like concealment, acquisition, possession and use of
proceeds of crime.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 levies a fine up to Rs
five lakh. The Bill proposes to remove this upper limit.
The Bill seeks to provide for
provisional attachment and
confiscation of property of any
person (for a period not exceeding
180 days). This power may be
exercised by the authority if it has
reason to believe that the offence of
money laundering has taken place.
The Bill proposes to confer powers
upon the Director to call for records
of transactions or any additional information that may be required for
the purposes of investigation. The Director may also make inquiries
for non-compliance of the obligations of the reporting entities.
The Bill seeks to make the reporting entity, its designated directors on
the Board and employees responsible for omissions or commissions in
relation to the reporting obligations.
The Bill states that in the proceedings relating to money laundering,
the funds shall be presumed to be involved in the offence, unless
proven otherwise.
The Bill proposes to provide for appeal against the orders of the
Appellate Tribunal directly to the Supreme Court within 60 days from
the communication of the decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal.
The Bill seeks to provide for the process of transfer of cases of the
Scheduled offences pending in a court (which had taken cognizance of
the offence) to the Special Court for trial. In addition, on receiving
such cases, the Special Court shall proceed to deal with it from the
stage at which it was committed.
Part B of the Schedule in the existing Act includes only those crimes
that are above Rs 30 lakh or more whereas Part A did not specify any
monetary limit of the offence. The Bill proposes to bring all the
offences under Part A of the Schedule to ensure that the monetary
thresholds do not apply to the offence of money laundering.