Circular No 011/2012
Dated 20 Jan 2012

To all Members of the Malaysian Bar
Kindly take note that the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing (Security Council Resolutions) (Al-Qaida and Taliban) Order 2011 (“Order”) pursuant to section 66C of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (“AMLATFA”), which came into effect on 5 Dec 2011.

Law firms are required to pay attention to paragraph 8 of the Order, whereby reporting institutions listed under the First Schedule of the AMLATFA are to comply with the following:

1. The reporting institution shall, within thirty days of the coming into operation of this Order or any amendment of the First Schedule, determine that the reporting institution is in possession or control of the property owned or controlled by or on behalf of the listed entity; and
2. The reporting institution shall report the determination under subparagraph (1) to the relevant regulatory or supervisory authority within thirty days after the determination and thereafter for every six months interval.

For a copy of the Order, available in both English and Bahasa Malaysia, please click here.

For all Bar Council circulars issued in relation to AMLATFA, please click here.

We wish to notify Members that the Order was only received by Bar Council on 3 Jan 2012.

Law firms are strongly urged to ensure compliance with AMLATFA. F ailure to comply with AMLATFA could lead to Bank Negara Malaysia (the competent authority under AMLATFA) imposing more intrusive directives on all law firms, including legal penalties for non-compliance.

Thank you.


Tony Woon Yeow Thong
Secretary
Malaysian Bar