Macau to address money laundering

Macau casino market, one of the most visited in the world, would have to address money laundering measures.

Macau.- Authorities in Macau are discussing new measures to control and prevent money laundering through casino operations, as reported by official media. Representatives of Macau’s supervisory authorities, law enforcement agencies, and Financial Intelligence Office have held different meetings to discuss the issue.

The results of the meetings show that the city’s authorities have come to a “reasonably sound understanding of risks involving the gaming and financial sectors, particularly high-risk junkets,” although they admitted to have “an uneven understanding of major risks related to regional organised crime, cross-border movements and corruption.”

“There have only been five money laundering convictions. A shortage of prosecutorial resources in the Public Prosecutions Office, heavy evidentiary requirements for third-party money laundering, and the lack of an adequate policy directive have hampered the quantity and quality of money laundering investigations and prosecutions, resulting in a low conviction rate, with a correspondingly low average sentence length ranging from three to five years for just the money laundering offense,” reported Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)’s statement.

New measures to address the issue could be set by the authorities, as they’ve recently approved different regulations to control operations. The government has also set a national drill, which is expected to be launched by the first half of next year, according to the local government. Macau’s Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak revealed the plan earlier this week, noting that they expect to prepare the “large-scale, joint contingency drill” for casinos soon.