The Anti-Money Laundering Act has been updated with new requirements.
One will be liable to a jail term of 14 years or a fine not exceeding Sh5 million for engaging in money laundering. MPs passed the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Amendment Bill albeit with spirited resistance from lawyer members who protested the clause requiring them to disclose the accounts they hold for their clients.
Corporate bodies will be fined Sh25 million or the amount of the value of the property involved in the offence.
Leader of Majority Amos Kimunya lauded MPs for passing the Bill which he said had removed the country from the list of nations which had allowed money laundering to thrive.
“We have as honourable members removed our country from the list of the countries notoriously named as dens of money laundering and wash- wash,” Kimunya said.
Earlier, attempts by MPs to block debate on the Bill were overruled by Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi.
“In introducing the bill in the House, the Leader of the Majority has satisfied the procedure prescribed in the Standing Orders and previous guidance issued by the Speaker,” Cheboi ruled.
Resistance
Tharaka MP Gitonga Murungara, a lawyer, wanted the bill dropped on the basis that it contained provisions that were unconstitutional.
Murungara questioned the requirement to have lawyers and accountants report suspicious transactions saying it violated Article 27 of the Constitution which prohibits any form of discrimination.
The MPs led by Murungara, argued that requiring advocates to report suspect deals would erode the “settled legal principle” of advocate-client confidentiality.
Cheboi, however, maintained that no aspect of the bill rendered it unconstitutional and directed that it proceeds to the second reading.
“The bill explicitly discloses the intended limitations and the purpose and extent of the limitations as required by Article 24 of the Constitution,” Cheboi said.
According to the Speaker, the inclusion of advocates as reporting institutions for suspicious financial transactions does not, at face value, erode the legal principle of advocate-client confidentiality.
“Section 18 of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2009 currently provides for the entrenchment of the principle.”
“Any member seeking to buttress the principle further in light of the amendments proposed by the bill is at liberty to propose appropriate amendments for consideration by the House,” said Cheboi.
The move may come as a blow to the Law Society of Kenya which also argued on the same principle “much as they support efforts towards fighting money laundering and terrorism financing.”
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