Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, Anti-Restricted Activity Financing and Proceeeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, Part I — Preliminary (s 1–s 3) — Laws of Malaysia

Short title and commencement

s 1

(1) This Act may be cited as the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001. (2) This Act comes into operation on a date to be appointed by the Minister of Finance by notification in the Gazette.

Application

(1) This Act shall apply to any serious offence, foreign serious offence or unlawful activity whether committed before or after the commencement date. (2) This Act shall apply to any property, whether it is situated in or outside Malaysia. (3) Nothing in this Act shall impose any duty or confer any power on any court in or in connection with any proceedings under this Act against a person for a serious offence in respect of which he has been convicted by a court before the commencement date.

Interpretation

s 3

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “enforcement agency” includes a body or agency that is for the time being responsible in Malaysia for the enforcement of laws relating to the prevention, detection and investigation of any serious offence; “unlawful activity” means any activity which is related, directly or indirectly, to any serious offence or any foreign serious offence; “Bank Negara Malaysia” means the Central Bank of Malaysia established by the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958 [Act 519]; “thing” includes material; “specify” means specify in writing, and a power to specify includes the power to specify differently for different persons or different classes of persons and to amend any specification; “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act, and a power to prescribe includes the power to make different provisions in the regulations for different persons or classes of persons; “document” has the same meaning as in the Evidence Act 1950 [Act 56]; “constituent document”, in relation to an institution, means the statute, charter, memorandum of association and articles of association, rules and by-laws, partnership agreement, or other instrument, under or by which the institution is established and its governing and administrative structure and the scope of its functions and business are set out, whether contained in one or more documents; “proceeds of an unlawful activity” means any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person as a result of any unlawful activity; “property” means movable or immovable property of every description, whether situated in or outside Malaysia and whether tangible or intangible and includes an interest in any such movable or immovable property; “financial institution” means— (a) an institution licensed under the Islamic Banking Act 1983 [Act 276], the Takaful Act 1984 [Act 312], the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 [Act 372], the Insurance Act 1996 [Act 553] and the Money-Changing Act 1998 [Act 577]; (b) a person licensed under the Securities Industry Act 1983 [Act 280], the Securities Commission Act 1993 [Act 498] and the Futures Industry Act 1993 [Act 499]; or (c) an offshore financial institution; “offshore financial institution” has the same meaning as in the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority Act 1996 [Act 545]; “reporting institution” means any person, including branches and subsidiaries outside Malaysia of that person, who carries on any activity listed in the First Schedule; “serious offence” means— (a) any of the offences specified in the Second Schedule; (b) an attempt to commit any of those offences; or (c) the abetment of any of those offences; “foreign serious offence” means an offence— (a) against the law of a foreign State stated in a certificate purporting to be issued by or on behalf of the government of that foreign State; and (b) that consists of or includes an act or activity which, if it had occurred in Malaysia, would have constituted a serious offence; “client” includes a customer; “Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority” means the Authority established by the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority Act 1996; “material” includes any book, document or other record in any form and any container or article relating to it; “Minister of Home Affairs” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for internal security; “Minister of Finance” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for finance; “foreign State” means any country or territory outside Malaysia; “controller”, in relation to an institution, means— (a) the chief executive officer of the institution or of a body corporate of which the institution is a subsidiary; (b) a person, either alone or with any associate— (i) has interest in one third or more of its voting shares; (ii) has the power to appoint, or cause to be appointed, a majority of its directors; or (iii) has the power to make a decision, or cause a decision to be made, in respect of its business or administration; “money laundering” means the act of a person who— (a) engages, directly or indirectly, in a transaction that involves proceeds of any unlawful activity; (b) acquires, receives, possesses, disguises, transfers, converts, exchanges, carries, disposes, uses, removes from or brings into Malaysia proceeds of any unlawful activity; or (c) conceals, disguises or impedes the establishment of the true nature, origin, location, movement, disposition, title of, rights with respect to, or ownership of, proceeds of any unlawful activity; where— (aa) as may be inferred from objective factual circumstance, the person knows or has reason to believe, that the property is proceeds from any unlawful activity; or (bb) in respect of the conduct of a natural person, the person without reasonable excuse fails to take reasonable steps to ascertain whether or not the property is proceeds from any unlawful activity; “competent authority” means the person appointed under subsection 7(1); “premises” includes— (a) a structure (whether or not movable or offshore), building, tent, vehicle, vessel, hovercraft or aircraft; (b) a place (whether or not enclosed or built upon); and (c) part of any premises (including premises of a kind referred to in paragraph (a) or (b)); “process” means any summons, warrant, order or other document in respect of a criminal matter that is issued— (a) out of any court; or (b) out of any court of a foreign State; or by any judge, magistrate or officer of such a court, as the case may be; “criminal proceedings” means a trial of a person for a serious offence or foreign serious offence, as the case may be, and includes any proceedings to determine whether a particular person should be tried for the offence; “relative”, in relation to a person, means— (a) a spouse of that person; (b) a brother or sister of that person; (c) a brother or sister of the spouse of that person; or (d) any lineal ascendant or descendant of that person; “associate”, in relation to a person, means— (a) any person who is a nominee or an officer of that person; (b) any person who manages the affairs of that person; (c) any firm of which such person, or any nominee of his, is a partner or a person in charge or in control of its business or affairs; (d) any corporation within the meaning of the Companies Act 1965 [Act 125], of which such person, or any nominee of his, is a director or is in charge or in control of its business or affairs, or in which such person, alone or together with any nominee of his, has or have a controlling interest, or shares to the total value of not less than thirty per centum of the total issued capital of that corporation; or (e) the trustee of any trust, where— (i) the trust has been created by that person; or (ii) the total value of the assets contributed by that person to the trust at any time, whether before or after the creation of the trust, amounts, at any time, to not less than twenty per centum of the total value of the assets of the trust; “Securities Commission” means the Securities Commission established under the Securities Commission Act 1993; “transaction” includes an arrangement to open an account involving two or more persons and any related transaction between any of the persons concerned and another; “dealing”, in relation to any property, includes— (a) receiving or acquiring the property; (b) concealing or disguising the property (whether by concealing, or disguising its nature, source, location, disposition, movement or ownership or any rights with respect to it or otherwise); (c) disposing of or converting the property; (d) bringing the property into or removing the property from Malaysia; (e) using the property to borrow money, or as security (whether by way of charge, mortgage or pledge or otherwise); or (f) where a debt is owed to the person holding the property, making a payment to any person in reduction of the amount of the debt. (2) For the purposes of this Act— (a) a reference to a foreign State includes a reference to— (i) a territory of that foreign State; and (ii) a ship or aircraft of, or registered in, that foreign State; and (b) a reference to the law of a foreign State includes a reference to the law in force in any part of that foreign State.

Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, Anti-Restricted Activity Financing and Proceeeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 Part I — Preliminary

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