Pubdate: Wed, 04 Oct 2006 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Jack Aubry, The Ottawa Citizen TARGET LAWYERS, JEWELLERS UNDER MONEY LAUNDERING LAW: REPORT Canada's lawyers need to be included in upcoming amendments to the law against money laundering and terrorist financing, a newly released Senate committee report concludes. The interim report of the Senate's banking, trade and commerce committee also recommends jewellers be added in the Conservative government's promised changes to close loopholes in controls of illegal financial transactions. "The committee feels that, given the mobility of money and the probability that those seeking to launder money and finance terrorist activities will go to the country of least resistance, Canada must be - -- and must be seen as -- an unreceptive country within which to undertake these activities," concluded the report, titled: Stemming the Flow of Illicit Money: A Priority for Canada. The recommendation to bring the legal profession under the legislation will be the most controversial, as Canadian lawyers have already said they are bracing for a fight if they are forced to report large cash payments from clients to a federal anti-money laundering agency. The committee was told the prospect was unacceptable because it would contravene solicitor-client privilege. Appearing to straddle the fence on the issue, the senators recommended that ongoing government negotiations with the Federation of Law Societies continue and that reporting requirements should respect solicitor-client privilege. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already signalled that he intends to introduce legislation, possibly this fall, to toughen existing federal laws against terrorist-group financing and money laundering in order to bring them up to international standards. The Senate committee document said Finance Department officials told senators that media reports and a task force on money laundering have concluded that the voluntary measures "put in place by the legal profession fail to meet international standards." Lawyers suspect the government intends to eliminate a concession they secured more than three years ago, when the then-Liberal government exempted the legal professional from dirty-money legislation that required financial institutions and other intermediaries to report suspicious cash transactions and those involving more than $10,000 to a government agency called the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. The committee was told by the RCMP, the Justice Department and others that the lawyers' exemption from the law is a major gap or loophole in the fight against dirty money. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine