Lawyers
Lawyers are obliged to report unusual transactions to FIU-the Netherlands. This is provided for in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft BES). You are required to report both completed transactions and transactions that have not yet been completed (intended transactions). This way you contribute to the fight against money laundering, predicate offences and terrorist financing.
- Providing advice or rendering assistance by a natural person, legal person, or company that, as a lawyer, civil-law notary or junior civil-law notary, accountant, tax adviser, or as an expert in the legal, tax or administrative field, or in the course of a similar legal profession or business, carries out independent professional or business activities, in:
1°. Buying or selling immovable property
2°. Managing money, securities, coins, currency notes, precious metals, precious stones, or other values
3°. Establishing or managing companies, legal entities, or similar bodies
4°. Selling or buying or acquiring undertakings:
- Acting in the name and on behalf of a client in any financial or real estate transaction by a natural person, legal person or company as a lawyer, civil-law notary, or junior civil-law notary, or in the course of a similar legal profession.
When do I report a transaction?
You are required by law to be alert to the transactions and actions of your customers, and to report unusual transactions. As a free professional you know what is common in your industry. You are therefore best positioned to assess whether a transaction is unusual and may be related to money laundering, predicate offences or terrorist financing. That underlines the importance of your professional judgment.
There are transactions that you should always report, regardless of the circumstances. These are transactions that meet the objective indicators. An overview of all the indicators that help you to assess transactions is given below. In addition, the general guidelines of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice and Security and the guidelines of the Netherlands Bar Association provide pointers on complying with the law. The Netherlands Bar Association is your supervisor and monitors your compliance with your obligations under the Wwft BES.
What indicators help me to assess transactions?
There are 3 indicators that may apply to lawyers. They will help you determine whether you should file a report with FIU-the Netherlands. You must always report transactions that meet the objective indicator. For the subjective indicator, it is particularly important that you assess whether a transaction is unusual.
The literal description of the indicators is given below. Use the codes in front of the indicators when reporting an unusual transaction. If your report is based on a subjective indicator, it is important to include a detailed description of the transaction and explain why you suspect money laundering or terrorist financing.
Services referred to in section k of Schedule a to the Act.
XSubjectief01 - "A transaction that the service provider has reason to believe may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing."
XObjectief01 – " It is logical that transactions reported to the police or the Public Prosecution Service in connection with money laundering or terrorist financing should also be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit; after all, there is an assumption that these transactions may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing."
XObjectief09 - "Transactions involving payment of USD 11,000 or more to or through professionals in cash, bearer cheques, a prepaid payment instrument (prepaid card) or similar means of payment."
Do you believe that a completed or intended transaction meets one or more of these indicators? If so, you are legally obliged to report it to us. Reports based on the subjective indicator may, for example, concern customers who refuse to identify themselves.
What happens to an unusual transaction?
An institution that has reported an unusual transaction receives an automatic message, i.e. an acknowledgement of receipt. This is important in connection with indemnification. We will investigate this unusual transaction. If we declare the transaction suspicious after investigating it, it is made available to investigative, intelligence and security services. They conduct a further investigation based on their own priorities.