Cabinet yesterday approved amending of three key legislations concerning financial transparency and accountability.

Based on a proposal by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister, Cabinet approved the legal draftsman to prepare bills on the Financial Transactions Reporting Act No. 06 of 2006, Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 05 of 2006 and Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act No. 25 of 2005 to address the issues identified.

The Legal Review Committee and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering have identified shortcomings in Financial Transaction Reporting Act and the Cabinet granted approval on 5 May 2020 to amend the Act as approved by the National Steering Committee on Prevention of Money Laundering and Suppression of Terrorist Financing in line with recommendations of the Financial Taskforce.

The process of drafting the amendments was commenced thereafter, followed by further amendments identified in the mutual evaluation conducted by the Asia Pacific Group during 2014/2015, in addition to the previously identified shortcomings.

The bill prepared by a committee comprising representatives of the relevant agencies including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was reviewed by in March 2017 by technical support team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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