International & Transnational Criminal Law

Canada Releases New Anti-Money Laundering/Terrorist Finance Strategy

 

The federal government (via the Dept of Finance) has just released Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime Strategy 2023-2026. It is a reasonably brief survey of the current legal frameworks under which this "regime" operates, with some information about the current state of play domestically and internationally. It sets out four "Priority Actions" toward improving the regime:

• Increasing operational effectiveness
• Addressing legislative and regulatory gaps
• Improving regime governance and coordination
• Contributing to international community efforts to combat ML/TF

 

Various developments are canvassed, including the new federal corporate transparency registry and the report of the Cullen Commission. Regarding the Financial Crimes Agency the government suggested was going to be set up, it comments:

In Budget 2022 the government announced its intention to establish a new Canada Financial Crimes Agency, which will bolster Canada's ability to quickly respond to complex and fast-moving cases of financial crime as its lead enforcement agency in this area. The Budget provided $2 million to Public Safety Canada in 2022-23 to undertake initial work to develop and design the new agency. A portion of this funding is being used to establish a dedicated project team of policy and operational experts housed within Public Safety Canada's Financial Crime Coordination Centre (FC3) to examine the legislative, operational and jurisdictional landscape in Canada in order to develop recommendations on the agency's mandate, priorities and authorities. The remaining funding is being used to engage financial crime and other experts through professionally contracted services, providing an independent assessment of international best practices to complement the efforts of the dedicated project team throughout the Canada Financial Crimes Agency development and design process.

New FATF Report on Money Laundering, Art & Antiquities

 

I recently came across (by way of this article on White & Case's website) a new report from the FATF, entitled "Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Art and Antiquities Market." It is a 40-page report (plus appendices) that appears to give a solid overview of this often-obscure topic, including discussions of money laundering vulnerabilities, the role of both organized crime groups and terrorist organizations, and recommendations for best practices.

From the website:

The market of [sic] art, antiquities and other cultural objects has attracted criminals, organised crime groups and terrorists to launder proceeds of crime and fund their activities. Criminals seek to exploit the sector’s history of privacy and the use of third-party intermediaries while terrorist groups can use cultural objects from areas where they are active to finance their operations.

The vast majority of market participants do not have a connection to illicit activities, but there are risks associated with these markets and many jurisdictions do not have sufficient awareness and understanding of them. This results in a lack of investigative resources and expertise, and difficulties with pursuing cross-border investigations.

The report includes a list of risk indicators that can help public and private sector entities identify suspicious activities in the art and antiquities markets, and also highlights the importance of rapidly identifying and tracing cultural objects involved in money laundering or terrorist financing.

The report includes some good practices that countries have taken to address the challenges they face, including the establishment of specialised units and access to relevant databases and cooperation with experts and archaeologists to help identify, trace, investigate and repatriate cultural objects.