On May 31st, 2019, the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam coordinated with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to organize a Ceremony to announce Resolution No. 03/2019/NQ-HDTP of the Judges' Council of the Supreme People's Court in guiding the application of Article 324 of the Criminal Code on money laundering offenses.
The ceremony was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh - Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Anh – SBV Deputy Governor; Mr. Nguyen Tri Tue - Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam. Also attending the meeting were representatives of the departments, functional units of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam and the SBV; representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and representatives from the commercial banks and relevant entities.
Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh - Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam speaks about the new Resolution
According to the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, in Vietnam, money laundering is a new type of crime, but it is becoming more common and complicated in the era of globalization and has begun to negatively affect the economy. The criminals have used laundered cash to buy property, cars, gold and jewelery and other assets under other people's names.
“Money laundering criminals often disguise illegal sources of money with sophisticated means," said Mr. Binh. "So, we need a law enforcement force with legal knowledge and a comprehensive legal system to fight the crime effectively."
The 2015 Criminal Code has amended and supplemented several regulations on money laundering to remove the obstacles to implementation. However, after one year of the Law’s implementation, there are still some unclear substances and more guidance is needed.
Article 324 of the 2015 Criminal Code defines money laundering behavior as "disguising the legal origin of the money or property obtained through one's own criminal activities or that one knows to be obtained via another person's criminal activities." The release of the new guiding Resolution shows Vietnam's high commitments with the international community to combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Previously, most of the regulations focused on crimes such as corruption, embezzlement or drug trafficking, all of which could lead to money laundering because if criminals wish to use the illegal assets, they need to remove traces of the criminal activity. Now, these criminals will be prosecuted for their initial crime and then be prosecuted again for money laundering.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh answers questions of the press
At the press conference, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh answered the questions about the role of the Resolution on the preparation process for multilateral evaluation of the Asia-Pacific Group on money laundering in Vietnam in November 2019. The Deputy Governor said: Currently, under the direction of the Prime Minister, the SBV is working closely with the relevant ministries, agencies and entities in Vietnam to actively prepare for the multilateral evaluation of the Asia-Pacific Group on anti-money laundering in Vietnam in the upcoming November 2019.
In which, the legal framework for investigation, prosecution and trial of money laundering plays an important role in proving the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering mechanism in Vietnam. Therefore, the issuance of the Resolution of the Judges' Council of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam providing guidance for Article 324 is an important legal basis for taking money laundering crimes to trial in Vietnam; at the same time, it also proves the technical compliance of Vietnamese laws in the process of dealing with this type of crime.
Explaining the definition of "Source crime" in the Resolution, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh said: Money laundering criminals are criminals of a particular nature, deriving from previous crimes. Therefore, determining the source crime is an important basis to determine the criminal responsibility for money laundering offenders. This Resolution of the Judges’ Council clearly stipulating the source crime will help the law enforcement agencies in implementing the processes of investigation, prosecution and trial of this crime.
The Resolution will come into force on July 7th, 2019.
VA