The National Council will endorse “Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill 2017” on November 30. Today, the house completed discussion on all the clauses of the bill.
Its objective is to prevent money laundering and counter financing of terrorism. The bill was endorsed by the National Assembly during the previous session of the parliament.
Prior to endorsement, assembly members had prolonged deliberation on the clause that underlines establishment of a Financial Intelligence Department, which will be an independent and autonomous department under the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA).
The department will be vested with power to access information from a foreign counterpart and to provide information to a foreign counterpart. And it will be headed by a director, whose term will be for five years.
However, some members suggested that the term of the director must not be limited to five years given the confidential nature of the work involved. But some other MPs felt opening of such department was not possible for a small country Bhutan. Instead, they recommended on setting up of a division.
