The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Sri Lanka has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Registrar General of the Registrar General’s Department to receive information on Trusts, property registrations and any suspicious activities relating to Trusts and property registrations in relation to Money Laundering (ML), Terrorist Financing (TF) and related crimes. 

This MOU has been entered into by the FIU, in terms of the provisions of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) announced.

Registrar General W.R.A.N.S. Wijayasinghe and Director of the FIU Dr. Subhani Keerthiratne have signed the MOU on behalf of the respective institutions. The MOU was signed in the presence of Dr. P Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the CBSL, in the capacity as the Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordinating Committee, and Mrs. E H Mohotty, an Assistant Governor of the CBSL, also attended the event.

Legal persons and legal arrangements could be misused for ML/TF and related crimes, and thereby could threaten the stability of the national and global economic and financial systems, the CBSL said, adding that legal arrangement includes an express trust, a fiduciary account or a nominee.

This MOU will facilitate Registrar General’s Department to provide information to the FIU relating to Trusts, property registrations and any suspicious activities, which will be vital for prevention, detection and prosecution of ML/TF and related crimes.

With the signing of this MOU, the FIU has entered into 15 MOUs with domestic government agencies, including Sri Lanka Customs, Sri Lanka Police, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Inland Revenue Department, Department for Registration of Persons, Excise Department of Sri Lanka, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, etc., in order to share information to strengthen the AML/CFT framework of the country. 

The FIU has entered into 45 MOUs with foreign counterparts as well, according to the CBSL.