Offshore News: June 2008

18.06.2008 The government of the Cayman Islands has recently announced that the legislation of the offshore jurisdiction will soon be debated. The new legislation will aim to strengthen the Cayman anti-money laundering defences. A fully revised version of the Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Law is the bill to be debated. This version proposes to keep on modernising the anti-money laundering frameworks in the Cayman Islands as regards legislation and institutions. The bill is part of a legislative programme that is scrutinising a Police Law, an anti-corruption bill, legislation on the financial industry and the criminal justice system as well as many other laws.

10.06.2008 The European Commission has made the announcement that it is starting legal proceedings against 15 member states that have not implemented the 3rd money-laundering directive. The states that have failed to implement the directive into their national legislation by December 2007 are Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and Slovakia. According to the 3rd money-laundering directive, the EU member states must verify customer identity as well as report suspicious transactions. If the situation is not improved within 2 months, the European Commission might appeal to the European Court of Justice.