Nghe An National Assembly Delegation discusses the Draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering (amended)

Overview of the discussion session at Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

Discussing the Draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering (amended), delegates basically agreed with the Government's Report, as well as the draft Law. Accordingly, the amendment of this Law aims to institutionalize the viewpoints and guidelines of the Party and State on anti-money laundering; ensuring constitutionality, legality, and consistency with relevant legal documents.

In addition to inheriting, the Law on Anti-Money Laundering (amended) overcomes the difficulties and shortcomings of the provisions of the current Law on Anti-Money Laundering issued since 2012, meeting practical requirements in current anti-money laundering activities.

The draft Law on Anti-Money Laundering (amended) has referred to and specified international standards on Anti-Money Laundering in accordance with the economic and social development conditions of Vietnam; referred to the laws of a number of countries with similar economic and social conditions, ensuring the feasibility and effectiveness of regulations on anti-money laundering.

Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion session of Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

Regarding this content, Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, delegate of Nghe An Delegation also discussed many related contents; in which he suggested that the Government should regulate so that in practice, organizations and individuals doing business in non-financial sectors can report suspected money laundering subjects.

Along with that, Major General Tran Duc Thuan also said that corrupt criminals are high-risk subjects for money laundering, so he suggested that research should be done so that the Law has provisions and clauses aimed at this group, in order to effectively implement the work of preventing and combating money laundering.

The delegate from Nghe An Delegation also raised a number of opinions related to the exchange, provision and transfer of anti-money laundering information with competent domestic authorities in the draft law.

According to him, the regulation that "when there is reasonable basis to suspect that the transaction stated in the information or report is related to money laundering, within 10 working days, the State Bank of Vietnam is responsible for transferring information or case files to competent authorities to serve the verification, investigation, prosecution and trial of crimes" is not strict.

On the contrary, Major General Tran Duc Thuan said that if signs of crime are detected, it is necessary to immediately transfer the matter to the competent authority for investigation and verification; at the same time, the regulations on the responsibilities of the prosecution agencies in this draft Law should be based on the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code to ensure consistency.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province spoke at the discussion at Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

Also at the discussion session, regarding the draft "Resolution of the National Assembly on applying the statute of limitations for disciplinary action against cadres, civil servants and public employees", delegates basically agreed on the content to synchronously and consistently apply the Party's regulations with the provisions of the law on disciplinary action against cadres, civil servants and public employees; ensure discipline and administrative discipline, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of State operations; and resolve difficulties and inadequacies in management in practice.

Specifically, "apply a 5-year statute of limitations for disciplinary actions against officials, civil servants, and public employees that require disciplinary action in the form of a reprimand; 10 years for violations that require disciplinary action in the form of a warning or higher. Cases where the statute of limitations for disciplinary actions is not applicable shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Cadres, Civil Servants, and the Law on Public Employees. At the same time, assign the Government to guide regulations on the statute of limitations for disciplinary actions to ensure synchronous and unified implementation throughout the political system; urgently study and submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on amendments to the Law on Cadres, Civil Servants, and the Law on Public Employees, ensuring consistency with Party regulations".

However, regarding the form of the document, according to delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An, including this content as part of the Resolution of the session is not appropriate, but should be studied and issued in the form of a separate resolution or as an amended Law, which would be more appropriate and ensure legality.

Standing member of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Minh Hieu - delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion session of Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

In addition, the delegates also discussed a number of other contents related to the Draft Resolution promulgating the Rules of the National Assembly Session (amended), including the proposal to study a more suitable way to organize the election and dismissal by secret ballot; at the same time, it was recommended to allow National Assembly deputies to access information and data of the national database to a certain extent to serve the work of examining and deciding on important issues of the country...