FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan says Financial Intelligence Centre Act amendments are critically important in strengthening the financial system and ensuring it is of world standard to fight money laundering and terror financing.
Parliament adopted the legislation unanimously.
In his foreword to the 2015-16 Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) annual report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, Gordhan said the centre played a "pivotal role".
On Tuesday, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and civil society groups called on President Jacob Zuma to sign the bill into law.
Zuma, who has had the bill for several months, has been petitioned by the Progressive Professionals Forum to reject it on constitutional grounds.
The FIC annual report noted that 3531 (higher than the previous year’s figure of 3236) accountable and reporting institutions submitted financial transaction reports to the FIC last year. They include banks, attorneys, estate agents, long-term insurers, gambling institutions and motor vehicle dealers.
Most reports came from the large banks. There were 34 255 institutions registered.
The centre received 180 363 suspicious transaction reports and more than 9-million reports of transactions above the cash threshold of R25 000.
It blocked R185m of suspected proceeds of crime, assisted with 1979 national and international criminal investigations and contributed to 29 judicial actions.
"FIC intelligence products helped identify a range of suspected criminal activities including money laundering (746 reports), corruption (515 reports) and fraud (470 reports)," the annual report noted.
The centre’s operations cost R245m last year.
©BDlive
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