Introduction of Administrative Punishments to Imposition on Reporting Entities under Anti-Money Laundering Law

Abstract

Anti-Money Laundering Law prescribes that Financial Institutions and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions are reporting entities, who have duties to comply with the law, namely: to report on transactions; to cause customers to verify themselves; to formulate customer acceptance policies; to manage risks probably relating to customers' money laundering; to conduct customer due diligence; and to maintain all customer identification records, whereby the Anti-Money Laundering Law prescribes criminal punishments to be imposed in cases of violation of or failure to comply with the law, only in a form of fine penalty. When it is analyzed by the concept of imposition of criminal punishments, it is found that the criminal punishments should be imposed only in cases of necessity. Therefore, it leads to an idea of introduction of administrative fine penalties to offenses, which are committed by the reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering Law, because the offenses are not violent crimes, and the law intends to regulate business operations, in order to verify, monitor and prevent the transactions from being used as channels to money laundering, whereby introduction of the administrative punishments requires some amendment to the law for distinguishing administrative offenses from other criminal offenses relating to money laundering, and the Anti-Money Laundering Board to be empowered to consider imposing the administrative fine penalties and enforcing the law on administrative procedure.