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New ML law on the stocks in NZ

Chris Hamblin

3 June 2015

The bill, which proposes amendments to 12 different Acts, is an omnibus Bill and includes amendments to the AML/CFT Act to introduce reporting for international transactions (with a threshold of $1,000) and for large cash transactions (with a threshold of $10,000).

The bill also aims to improve New Zealand's ability to collaborate with international efforts to disrupt organised crime. The Select Committee was due to report back on 5 May and has done. Its opinions are as follows.

Facilitation payments

Members of the committee who belong to the Green Party hold the view that the bill "is a missed opportunity to address the issue of facilitation payments, which will still be excepted from the foreign bribery offence under section 105C(3) of the Crimes Act 1961." Facilitation payments, an American idea, are payments that the briber makes to a foreign official to 'jolly him along' in the execution of something that is already part of his job-description. This is held in US (and, evidently, New Zealand) law as less corrupt than other examples of bribing. This is likely to continue as the Ministry of Justice has said that these payments do not yield an “undue advantage.”