Tranche 2 Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terror Financing Laws Protect Us All.

In 1988, I was a trainee detective with the Australian Federal Police working in Sydney, when Australia passed the Cash Transaction Reports Act 1988 (later renamed the Financial Transaction Reports Act). This was the beginning of the introduction of Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorism Financing Laws (AML/CTF). Australia was an early adopter and a global leader in combating money laundering. And for law enforcement agencies and the newly created Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) it was an exciting time. Because for the first time, police had available to them a source of financial intelligence and several new offences to attack the financial base of organised crime. A person operating a false name bank account could be prosecuted. And the large amounts of cash left for police to find during searches (which were designed to corrupt otherwise honest police), disappeared, as new money laundering laws with stiff penalties deterred criminals.

Driven largely by the damming results of Australia’s 3rd Mutual Evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Australia upgraded its AML/CTF laws with the passage of the first tranche of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. The second component known as tranche 2 which was designed to capture some services provided by lawyers, accountants, trust and company service........

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