The Executive Yuan yesterday launched its Anti-Money Laundering Office to clamp down on money laundering and improve the nation’s financial transparency.
“Taiwan is the first nation in the Asia-Pacific region to legislate against money laundering, but in the past 10 years, Taiwan has been falling behind in this area and might even be listed on the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering watch list,” Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said at the office’s launch ceremony in Taipei.
Stricter law enforcement will not burden the financial sector, but could instead facilitate financial activities, Lin said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“I have heard people say that offshore banking units would leave the nation if the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) was enforced more rigorously, or it would affect personal and financial privacy. These are unproductive thoughts. We want people to cooperate with the government in preventing money laundering to rebuild the financial system and transform it into a more transparent and regulated environment,” Lin said.
Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said the financial sector has long neglected the importance of cracking down on money laundering, resulting in the violation of US money laundering rules by the Mega International Commercial Bank’s New York branch, for which the bank was issued a US$180 million fine in August last year.
The office is to ensure legal compliance and prevent the laundering of illegal assets on an international level, Chiu said.
All high-level officials of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government would be under the office’s regulation to supervise their loans and real-estate transactions, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said.
Relatives, close friends and aides of the officials would also be regulated, and any monetary transaction would be reviewed.
The office has of 19 staff members and is to be headed by Deputy Minister of Justice Tsai Pi-chung (蔡碧仲).
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS