Da Nang (VNS/VNA) - The 2015 penal code includes revised articles andsupplements to fight money laundering, said Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Nguyen Hoa Binh said at a workshopin the central city of Da Nang on July 9.

He said that some of the regulations areunclear, and guidance is needed to ensure the laws against money laundering areeffectively carried out.

"Money laundering criminals often disguise illegal sources of money fromtheir offensive activities with sophisticated means. So, we need a lawenforcement force with legal knowledge support and the comprehensive legalsystem to fight the crime effectively," said Binh.

"Many efforts have been made by Vietnam’s judicial system in dealing withthe crimes for years, and it’s still a challenge as Vietnam has integratedmore deeply into the global economy," he said.

Binh said money laundering is not a traditional crime in Vietnam, butcriminals had used cash to buy property, cars, jewels and precious assets underthe names of other people in the country.

He said the workshop was an opportunity for experts, lawmakers andorganisations from Vietnam, Australia and the United Nations Office onDrugs and Crime (UNODC) to share experience and ideas on the resolution ofthe judges’ council of the Supreme People’s Court before issuing the penal codeon money laundering.

Jean Cuthill from the anti-money laundering assistance team under theAustralian Government’s Department of Home Affairs suggested that Vietnam neededto provide assessors on the wide range of data and statistics on many examplesof money laundering investigations, prosecutions and convictions across a rangeof different types of crimes, particularly those that are highly profitable.

She said that Vietnam and Australia were members of the Asia Pacific Group onMoney Laundering (APG), and Australia is a member of the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) with 37 members.

Cuthill said Vietnam had a mutual evaluation of FATF in 2008 and the nextevaluation will arrive in 2019.

"Vietnam should also demonstrate technical compliance with the FATFstandards and assessment of effective anti-money laundering regimes. FATFhas 40 recommendations on the prevention of anti-money laundering, terroristfinancing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," shesaid, adding that more than 190 countries and territories committed toimplement 40 recommendations approved by the FATF.

Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Nguyen Tri Tue saidVietnamese money laundering was first addressed in the penal code in 1999,and the FATF had removed Vietnam from the list of countries with weakmeasures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in 2014.

He said Vietnam highly appreciated the suggestion from experts on predicateoffenses, and the country prosecuted three former officials of Vinashin OceanShipping Company (Vinashinlines) on charges of embezzlement in 2016 as well asan online gambling case last year.

According to the investigation agencies, the police had initiated probesagainst 83 people who were allegedly involved in the online gamblingring. Among them, 41 were accused of organising gambling, 38 of gambling,four for illegally trading invoices, two for money laundering and one using theinternet to appropriate assets. 

The probe initially found that the money was paid via legal and gatewaypayments exceeding 9.58 trillion VND (425.7 million USD). More than 9.29trillion VND, or 97 percent of the total, was transferred via pre-paid telecomcards and game cards. About 168 billion VND was sent from bank accounts.

From 2011-15, Vietnam’s criminal police force investigated 1,378 corruption andeconomic offense cases involving more than 3,400 offenders, reclaiming 197million USD for the state budget, according to a report by the People’s SupremeCourt.-VNS/VNA