Offence of money laundering
(1) Any person who—
(a) engages in, or attempts to engage in; or
(b) abets the commission of,
money laundering, commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five million ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.
(2) A person may be convicted of an offence under subsection
(1) irrespective of whether there is a conviction in respect of a serious offence or foreign serious offence or that a prosecution has been initiated for the commission of a serious offence or foreign serious offence.
Protection of informers and information
(1) Where a person discloses to an enforcement agency his knowledge or belief that any property is derived from or used in connection with money laundering or any matter on which such knowledge or belief is based—
(a) if he does any act in contravention of subsection 4(1) and the disclosure relates to the arrangement concerned, he does not commit an offence under that subsection if the disclosure is made—
(i) before he does the act concerned, being an act done with the consent of the enforcement agency; or
(ii) after he does the act, but the disclosure is made on his initiative and as soon as it is reasonable for him to make it;
(b) notwithstanding any other written law, the disclosure shall not be treated as a breach of any restriction on the disclosure of information imposed by any law, contract or rules of professional conduct; and
(c) he shall not be liable for damages for any loss arising out of—
(i) the disclosure; or
(ii) any act done or omitted to be done in relation to the property in consequence of the disclosure.
(2) Where any information relating to an offence under this Act is received by an officer of the competent authority or reporting institution, the information and the identity of the person giving the information shall be secret between the officer and that person and everything contained in such information, the identity of that person and all other circumstances relating to the information, including the place where it was given, shall not be disclosed except for the purposes of subsection 8(1) or section 14.
Restriction on revealing disclosure under section 5
(1) No person shall, subject to subsection (2)—
(a) reveal that a disclosure was made under section 5;
(b) reveal the identity of any person as the person making the disclosure; or
(c) answer any question if the answer would lead, or would tend to lead, to the revealing of any fact or matter referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).
(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to a witness in any civil or criminal proceedings—
(a) for an offence under subsection 4(1) or subsection (3) of this section; or
(b) where the court is of the opinion that justice cannot fully be done between the parties without revealing the disclosure or the identity of any person as the person making the disclosure.
(3) No person shall publish in writing or broadcast any information, including a report of any civil or criminal proceedings but excluding information published for statistical purposes by a competent authority or the Government, so as to reveal or suggest—
(a) that a disclosure was made under section 5; or
(b) the identity of any person as the person making the disclosure.
(4) Subsection (3) shall not apply in respect of proceedings against the person making the disclosure for an offence under subsection 4(1) or subsection (1).
(5) If information is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (3), each of the following persons, namely—
(a) in the case of publication as part of a newspaper or periodical publication, any proprietor, editor, publisher and distributor of the newspaper or periodical publication;
(b) in the case of a publication otherwise than as part of a newspaper or periodical publication, any person who publishes it and any person who distributes it;
(c) in the case of a broadcast, any person who broadcasts the information and, if the information is contained in a programme, any person who transmits or provides the programme and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of the editor of a newspaper or periodical publication,
commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both, and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit for each day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(6) In this section, “broadcast” includes any broadcast by radio, film, videotape, television or electronic media.
