Premier Lai Ching-te on Wednesday attended an event marking the release of Taiwan's first national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment, saying the effort reflects Taiwan's determination to combat money laundering and terrorist financing alongside the international community. The premier thanked the staff of various government agencies for their dedication and hard work, expressing hope that Taiwan will perform successfully in the third round of mutual evaluations by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) coming up in November.
The national assessment released this week is special in several respects, the premier pointed out. First, it meets the requirements of the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, aligns with international standards and fulfills Taiwan's needs specifically.
Second, the report identifies nine criminal threats and 14 industry vulnerabilities out of a list of 23 predicate offenses and 40 exploitable sectors in Taiwan. The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, National Police Agency and Taiwan High Prosecutors Office are working vigorously to root out these crimes, which include drug trafficking, fraud, organized crime, corruption, smuggling, securities crime, tax crime, third-party money laundering and intellectual property offenses.
Last, the report embodies the spirit of public-private cooperation in that it contains the discussions and collective recommendations of 37 public-sector government agencies and 31 private-sector industries.
In addition to establishing objectives for the eradication of money laundering and terrorist financing crimes, Taiwan's first national report will also serve as a reference for the government when formulating future national reports, Premier Lai added.