Israel has received international approval for its ongoing progress in combating
terrorism funding and money-laundering, the Justice Ministry said on
Wednesday.
The Council of Europe accepted Israel’s progress report
showing how the country is complying with international standards and advancing government effectiveness in dealing with terrorism funding and
money-laundering, a development that the Justice Ministry described as
significant.
RELATED:Israel touts ‘advanced legal structure’ to fight terror Lawyers, not IDF, at forefront of battle against flotilla The report was presented earlier this month at the 37th
Plenary Meeting of MONEYVAL, a 30-member expert committee on evaluating
anti-money-laundering and terror-funding methods. Israel joined MONEYVAL
as an active observer in 2006.
During the meeting, Paul Landes, head of
the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, part of
the Justice Ministry, and representatives from the police, Bank of Israel and
State Attorney’s Office presented data showing how Israel has improved reporting
requirements for business-service providers, including lawyers, accountants and
real estate agents to make it tougher for criminals to launder
cash.
Landes told
The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that MONEYVAL’s
adoption of the report is significant because it shows Israel has made progress
in amending deficiencies in anti-money-laundering and terror-funding
procedures.
Israel has now established a series of predicate offenses for
money-laundering – criminal offenses as a result of which money is generated
that may become the subject of a further offense.
Landes also said that
Israel has now adopted measures to designate individuals as terrorists, whereas
previously only organizations were designated as terror
entities.
MONEYVAL’s acceptance of Israel’s progress comes as new
legislation is being considered which the Justice Ministry says will help Israel
in its fight against terror funding, but which civil rights organizations have
slammed as too restrictive.
The Counterterrorism Bill, which the Justice
Ministry’s Department of Legislative Consulting has worked on for the past five
years, passed its first reading in Knesset in August and is waiting to be
debated in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee before going
forward for its second and third (final) readings in the Knesset.