Global Policy Forum

G8 Ministers Call for Stronger Measures

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Money Laundering
May 12, 2004


The ministers of justice and home affairs from the Group of Eight major industrial nations have urged member countries to implement measures to facilitate the recovery of corruption proceeds, including enhanced due diligence for "Politically Exposed Persons" (PEPs) and identification of wire transfer originators.

In a declaration issued at a ministerial meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday, the G8 said "large scale...corruption by senior public officials is a particularly serious worldwide problem" with "grave consequences" for developing nations.

Among other things, the declaration calls for member countries to implement measures to conduct enhanced due diligence on accounts of Politically Exposed Persons, or PEPs, by the summer of 2005. PEPs, a term used in the international money laundering lexicon, refers to individuals who hold or have held high public office, and their families and close associates.

In the United States, financial institutions are already required to follow enhanced due diligence procedures concerning the accounts of "senior foreign political figures" under Section 312 of the USA Patriot Act and a Treasury Department regulation under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) implementing that section.


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