Pol. Col. Seehanat Prayoonrat, Ph.D. (Law)
Acting Secretary-General
AMLO, Thailand
Development of AML Measures
in Thailand & UNCAC
Corruption issue has been rising on the
global agenda and has stayed in the
focus of the world society for ages.
 Recognized internationally as a crime
that not only harms the transparency
image and reputation of jurisdictions but
also ruins their sustainable development
economically, socially, politically and
also in terms of their governance.

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
Proceeds from corruption can be laundered
anywhere in the world and in the number of ways
using high or new technologies or complex methods
to avoid detection from competent authorities.

One effective measure to combat corruption is AML
measures.

The AML measures create channels of sharing
information and domestic and international
cooperation that help to trace these illicit funds.

Corruption and money laundering have a linkage.
Thus, the measures to prevent money-laundering
was set up in the UNCAC Articles 14, 23, 24, 31.
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UNCAC Article 14
1. Each State Party shall:
(a) Institute a comprehensive domestic regulatory and supervisory regime for banks and nonbank financial institutions, including natural or legal persons that provide formal or informal
services for the transmission of money or value and, where appropriate, other bodies
particularly susceptible to money-laundering, within its competence, in order to deter and
detect all forms of money-laundering, which regime shall emphasize requirements for
customer and, where appropriate, beneficial owner identification, record-keeping and the
reporting of suspicious transactions;
(b) Without prejudice to article 46 of this Convention, ensure that administrative, regulatory, law
enforcement and other authorities dedicated to combating money-laundering (including,
where appropriate under domestic law, judicial authorities) have the ability to cooperate
and exchange information at the national and international levels within the conditions
prescribed by its domestic law and, to that end, shall consider the establishment of a
financial intelligence unit to serve as a national centre for the collection, analysis and
dissemination of information regarding potential money-laundering.
2. States Parties shall consider implementing feasible measures to detect and monitor the
movement of cash and appropriate negotiable instruments across their borders, subject to
safeguards to ensure proper use of information and without impeding in any way the
movement of legitimate capital. Such measures may include a requirement that individuals
and businesses report the cross-border transfer of substantial quantities of cash and
appropriate negotiable instruments.
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UNCAC Article 14 (Cont.)
3. States Parties shall consider implementing appropriate and feasible
measures to require financial institutions, including money remitters:
(a) To include on forms for the electronic transfer of funds and related
messages accurate and meaningful information on the originator;
(b) To maintain such information throughout the payment chain; and
(c) To apply enhanced scrutiny to transfers of funds that do not contain
complete information on the originator.
4. In establishing a domestic regulatory and supervisory regime under the
terms of this article, and without prejudice to any other article of this
Convention, States Parties are called upon to use as a guideline the
relevant initiatives of regional, interregional and multilateral
organizations against money-laundering.
5. States Parties shall Endeavour to develop and promote global, regional,
sub regional and bilateral cooperation among judicial, law enforcement
and financial regulatory authorities in order to combat moneylaundering.
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UNCAC Article 23
(a) (i) The conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such
property is the proceeds of crime, for the purpose of concealing
or disguising the illicit origin of the property or of helping any
person who is involved in the commission of the predicate
offence to evade the legal consequences of his or her action;
(ii) The concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location,
disposition, movement or ownership of or rights with respect to
property, knowing that such property is the proceeds of crime;
(b) Subject to the basic concepts of its legal system:
(i) The acquisition, possession or use of property, knowing, at the
time of receipt, that such property is the proceeds of crime;
(ii) Participation in, association with or conspiracy to commit,
attempts to commit and aiding, abetting, facilitating and
counseling the commission of any of the offences established in
accordance with this article.
…….
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UNCAC Article 24
Provisions about concealment of proceeds of
crime and requires a State Party to establish
as a criminal offence, when
“committed intentionally after the commission
of any of the offences established in
accordance with this Convention without
having participated in such offences, the
concealment or continued retention of property
when the person involved knows that such
property is the result of any of the offences
established
in
accordance
with
this
Convention…”
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UNCAC Article 31
Freezing, seizure and confiscation
measures as tools of AML to disrupt
corruption activity from the benefit of
their illegal proceeds.
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Other conventions related to ML
The United Nations Convention against
Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances (Vienna
Convention 1988)
 The United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime
(Palermo Convention)

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Anti-Money Laundering Office
 AMLO
serves as Financial Intelligence
Unit and law enforcement agency in
Thailand.
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The Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E.
2542 (1999)
ONCB
8 March
1995
H.M. the King
signed
10 April 1999
Published in
Government
Gazette
21 April 1999
Cabinet
2 July 1996
Prime Minister
Submitted to
H.M. the King
1 April 1999
Effective
19 August 1999
Council of State
23 September 1996
Parliamentary
Approval
17-19 March 1999
AMLA
No. 2
2 March
2008
Cabinet
June 1997
Joint Commission of
House of
Representatives
and Senate
8 August 1997
AMLA No. 3
Published in
Government Gazette 22
July 2009 and effective
120 days after its
publication
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Overview of the AMLA 1999
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Chapter 1: General Provisions (Section 5-12)
Chapter 2: Report and Identification (Section 13-23)
Chapter 3: Anti-Money Laundering Board (Section 24-31)
Chapter 4: Transaction Committee (32-39)
Chapter 5: Anti-Money Laundering Office (Section 40-47)
Chapter 6: Assets Management (Section 48-59)
Chapter 6/1:Anti-Money Laundering Fund
(Section 59/1- 59/7)
Chapter 7: Penalties (Section 60-68)
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Legal Measures
•
AMLA provides special legal measures
as follows;
 Criminal Measure – criminal offense of
money laundering includes aiding and
abetting the commission of the offense or
assisting the offender before or at the time of
the commission of the offense,
 Civil forfeiture procedures under Chapter 6
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AMLA Section 40

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to carry out acts in the implementation of resolutions of the Board and
the Transaction Committee and perform other administrative tasks;
to receive transaction reports submitted under Chapter II and
acknowledge receipt thereof as well as receive reports and information
related to transactions from other sources;
to receive or send reports or information related to transactions in
order to comply with this Act or other laws;
to collect, compile, trace, examine, study, evaluate and analyze
reports and information in connection with the making of transactions;
to gather evidence for the purpose of taking legal proceedings against
offenders under this Act;
to conduct projects with regard to the dissemination of knowledge, the
giving of education and the training in the fields involving the execution
of this Act, or to provide assistance or support to both Government and
private sectors in organizing such projects; and
to perform any other acts under this Act or under other laws.
14
AMLA Section 3(5)
The offense relating to malfeasance in office or
malfeasance in judicial office under the Penal
Code, offence under the law on offences of
officials in State organizations or agencies or
offence of malfeasance in office or corruption
under other laws.
 Since 2009 there have been 53 corruption
cases under AMLO investigation, and the total
number of cases relating to corruption from
1999 is about 600 cases with the property
involved worth around 250 million Baht.

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AML as one of the Preventive
Measures against Corruption
FIs and DNFBPs are often used in
money laundering transactions
 Rules
and regulations for AML
preventative measures are critical to
protect the financial system and
DNFBPs from the abuse of corrupted
people.
 Preventative measures can be used in
the prevention and suppression of
corruption-related offences.

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FATF AML/CFT preventative
measures
Provisions for law-enforcement and
internal audit mechanisms
 Provisions for measures to seize/freeze
and confiscate assets gained through
drug
 Provisions for KYC/CDD procedures for
FIs and DNFBPs
 Provisions for FIs and reporting entities
to report suspicious transaction /activity
to FIU

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FATF AML/CFT preventative
measures (Cont.)
Provisions encouraging both domestic and
international cooperation in law enforcement
in all aspects
 Provisions for regulation of electronic
transfers as well as declaration and
disclosure of cross-border movement of cash

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FATF Rec. 6
Financial institutions should be required to have in place
appropriate risk management systems to identify and treat
Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
 According to the FATF definition, PEPs are individuals who
are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions in
a foreign country, for example Heads of State or of
government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or
military officials, senior executives of state owned
corporations, important political party officials. Business
relationships with family members or close associates of
PEPs involve reputational risks similar to those with PEPs
themselves. The definition is not intended to cover middle
ranking or more junior individuals in the foregoing categories.
 Jurisdictions are also encouraged to sign, ratify, and
implement the UNCAC.

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Thailand’s Existing AML
Measures

Reporting Requirements for FIs and
DNFBPs

Customer Identification and Verification

KYC/CDD

Sanctions against Reporting Entities
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Reporting Requirements for
FIs & DNFBPs
Cash Transactions
Property Transactions
2,000,000 Baht
5,000,000 Baht
Suspicious Transactions
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Customer Identification and
Verification
Section 20. Financial institutions and
traders under section 16 shall require all customers
to identify themselves prior to making a transaction
as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation, unless
such customers have previously made such
identification. There shall also be a measure to
eliminate obstacles in identification of the disabled or
incapacitated.
The identification under paragraph one
shall be in accordance with the procedure prescribed
by the Minister Section 20 amended in accordance
with the Anti-Money Laundering Act (No.3) B.E. 2552
(2009)
22
Section 20/1. Financial institutions and
traders under section 16 (1) and (9) shall establish
customer acceptance policy and risk management
possibly relating to customer’s money laundering and
shall verify customer identification on the first
transaction-making and periodically review until the
account is closed or relationship with its customer
terminates.
The scope of verification of customer
identification under paragraph one shall be in
accordance with the rules and procedures as prescribed
by the Ministerial Regulation pertaining to identifying
and verifying customer identification, reviewing
customer’s account and monitoring the movement of
customer’s account that are informed by the Office
Section 20/1 added in accordance with the Anti-Money
Laundering Act (No.3) B.E. 2552 (2009)
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KYC/CDD

KYC/CDD requirements under AMLA’s Sections 20,
20/1, 22, 22/1

FIs and DNFBPs are required by AMLA to implement KYC/CDD
procedures, such as
 Have in place a written policy, procedures and controls for AML/CFT
 Have in place an appropriate management system, at least, appoint a
management officer for compliance
 Ensuring the sufficiency of personnel, equipment and information
technology and mechanism that allow independence.
 Identify and verify customers or beneficial owners using reliable
documents
 Monitor accounts and customers
 Issue customer acceptance and risk management policy
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KYC/CDD (Cont.)
 Conduct CDD and ongoing CDD procedures
 Enhanced CDD for some types of customers or
accounts
 Implement risk management procedures
 Should not keep anonymous or false name accounts
 Obtain information on purpose of relationship
 keep customer identification records and due
diligence records for five years from the date the
account was closed or relationship was terminated
 Regularly train FIs’ staffs in AML/CFT
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ML Criminal Penalty
Section 60
Any
person
who commits an offense of money
laundering
shall
be
liable
to
imprisonment for a term of one year to
ten years or to a fine of 20,000 Baht to
200,000 Baht or both.
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Sanctions against Reporting
Entities
Section 62 Any person who
violates or refuses to act under Section 13,
Section 14, Section 16, Section 20, Section
20/1, Section 21, Section 22, Section 22/1,
Section 35 or Section 36 shall receive a
fine not exceeding five hundred thousand
Baht and an additional amount not
exceeding five thousand Baht for each
following day that the violation was not
corrected or until the action was carried out
correctly
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Sanctions against Reporting
Entities (Tipping-Off)
Section 66. Any person who,
having or probably having knowledge of an
official secret in connection with the
execution of this Act, acts in any manner
that
enables
other
persons
have
knowledge or probable knowledge of such
secret shall be liable to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding five years or to a fine
not exceeding one hundred thousand Baht
or both, except in the case of doing such
act in the performance of official duties or
in accordance with the law.
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Implementation of AML Measures and
Their Consequences in Relation to
the Combat against Corruption
Chapter 6 of the AMLA provides for the
Civil measure – civil forfeiture procedures i.e.
the case can be initiated from the asset
without the presence of offender and not
directly connected with criminal case (if any)
against the offender.
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Civil measures features
1.
2.
3.
4.
For the protection of social benefit and
public interest
Retrospective enforcement
Not directly connected with criminal
case. Whether or not the offender was
arrested or convicted, the civil forfeiture
can be pursued
Include not only asset derived from
commission of crime, but also the asset
that was transferred or any interest
accrued from such asset
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Civil measures features (cont.)
Burden of proof shifts to the person who claims
the right of asset,
6. Where a person claims the right of asset, and
the person is or had been related to the
offender of predicate offense or money
laundering offense, it shall be presumed that all
asset claimed were related to the offense or
transferred in bad faith,
7. It is possible to file a petition for court order to
forfeit the asset connected with the commission
of offense which was found thereafter,
8. Does not have to prove beyond reasonable
doubt.
5.
31
Initiation of case
•
There is a probable cause to believe that
the person carrying out the suspicious
transaction is involved with commission of
predicate offense
• Upon receiving reports or investigation files
from authorities
• Upon having a complaint or an arrest of
person committing predicate offense or
money laundering offense
• When money or asset connected with the
offense was found during the search of
person or residence or vehicle
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Asset Forfeiture Procedure under AMLA
Reports from
Financial Institutions
Reports from
Land Offices
Reports from 9
professions &
information from other
sources
Anti-Money Laundering Office
Transaction Restraint
Transaction Committee
or Secretary-General
Temporary Asset Seizure or Restraint
Probable Cause
3 Days*
10 Days
Public Prosecutor
Notice Announcement
Owner/Transferee/Beneficiary file petition
Return of Asset
Owner file petition
AML Board
Civil Court
AML Board
90 Days*
Forfeit
Secretary
General
Public
Prosecutor
Prove of ownership or bona-fide beneficiary Civil Court
Return of Asset
(Urgent)
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Thank you
Q&A
Pol.Col. Seehanat Prayoonrat, Ph.D.
Anti-Money Laundering Office
snat@amlo.go.th
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