Owen warns on penalties for money laundering

FINANCIAL institutions have reported almost 300 suspected money laundering transactions to the gardai in the past year, the Minister for Justice said yesterday.

Mrs Owen told the Seanad that 199 cases were reported between May and December last year, while 86 similar cases have been reported in the first four months of this year.

The Minister also stressed that the penalties in the Criminal Justice Act for money laundering applied to solicitors as well as everybody else. She was speaking on a motion to approve new regulations in the Criminal Justice Act.

Mrs Owen told senators she.was aware of fears that some solicitors might use the cloak of representing clients to launder money. She warned, however, that if they are found guilty of assisting in the laundering of drugs money they face the same penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

Referring to suspected money laundering transactions, the Minister pointed out that under section 57 of the Criminal Justice Act, financial institutions must alert gardai when they suspect money laundering transactions. The 199 cases last year and the 86 suspected money laundering transactions year were being investigated by gardai, Mrs Owens assured the House.

"Drug trafficking generates large amounts of cash and supplies of illegal drugs are generally purchased in cash," she said. Under the new regulations, therefore, a garda or custom officer will be able to seize cash being imported or exported if the amount is £5,000 or more. The money can be seized where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that it is from drug trafficking, the Minister said.

The British authorities have set the amount at £10,000 "but I am proposing tougher measures", she said. "This demonstrates the Government's determination to tackle drug trafficking and in particular to punish those who deal in drugs, by depriving them of their illegal gains.

The Minister referred to another section of the Act which she said will be introduced shortly. It will mean that gardai, the naval service and customs officers can stop, board, search and detain a suspect vessel even if the ship is outside Irish territorial waters. This section of the Act also states that what is considered a drugs offence on land will also be deemed a drugs offence "if done at sea".