Charlie Flanagan, the Minister for Justice and Equality in Ireland announced new measures for preventing money laundering, which will apply further standards to bookmakers and gambling operators, requiring them to proceed with due diligence and reporting very similar to that required of major financial firms and banks. Firms will also be held responsible for reporting any suspicious transactions.
The new measures were announced this week.
These new “statutory instruments” form part of the incoming amended Criminal Justice Act of 2018 and were signed into law by Flanagan last week. These amendments aim to close various existing loopholes for criminality such as money laundering, and the amendments also aim to standardize legal procedure in such matters within Ireland with those of the wider European Union.
These new regulations will apply for all transactions, incoming and outgoing, where the total exceeds €2,000. Exceptions have also been carved out for so-called “low risk” activities including live poker, bingo and lotteries. These were assessed as low risk through an assessment process. Flanagan has also flagged up the fact that a further bill related to money laundering will also be presented later this year.
As a direct consequence of the announcement, the Central Irish Bank is now taking steps to mandate that some companies whom it does not regulate must now become registered, including brokers and payment service providers.
Flanagan made the following public statement as part of the announcement, ““This legislation is really important. Money laundering is a crime that helps serious criminals and terrorists to function, destroying lives in the process. Criminals seek to exploit the EU’s open borders and this EU wide measure is really important for that reason.”
