Congress wants casinos under AMLA coverage

MANILA, Philippines - Congress will most likely include casinos in the coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Law (AMLA).

There is consensus in the Senate and the House of Representatives to include casinos among institutions covered by the law in the wake of the recent cyber theft of $81 million in Bangladeshi funds, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said yesterday.

Evardone, who chairs the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, said the inclusion of casinos will enhance the country’s competitiveness and transparency of financial transactions.

“This will also improve the image of the local gaming industry and enable it to attract more players,” he said.

Evardone said the Senate is scheduled to tackle the bills including casinos in AMLA coverage when Congress reconvenes on May 2 after a six-week Lenten recess.

Senate President Koko Pimentel said the bill was the product of the recent Senate inquiry into the diversion to bogus accounts in Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. of $81 million in funds of the government of Bangladesh.

Chinese and North Korean hackers are allegedly involved in the cyber theft.

Evardone’s committee earlier approved in principle the inclusion of casinos in AMLA. It created a panel to consolidate several related bills.

“The only issue that remains to be resolved has to do with the threshold amount that would trigger the filing of a suspicion transaction report with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC),” he said.

One proposal is to set the trigger amount at P500,000, the same level of transaction that requires banks, insurance companies and other covered institutions to file a report.

Another proposal is to fix the threshold amount at P5 million, he added.

The Senate version fixes the amount at P3 million, according to Pimentel.

Evardone said the House, in moving to include casinos in the coverage of AMLA, “aims to protect the gaming industry from illegal activities so it can grow and attract more gamers and investors.”

Mindoro Occidental Rep. Josephine Sato, who authored one of the bills to be consolidated, said the February 2016 diversion of Bangladeshi funds by hackers to RCBC and eventually to local casinos “exposed the vulnerability of gaming establishments to illegal activities.”

“There is a need to amend the law to protect our casinos from money laundering by crime syndicates,” she said.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has reiterated its recommendation for the inclusion of casinos in AMLA following the $81-million Bangladeshi cyber heist.

Only $15 million of the amount has been recovered.

According to former senator Serge Osmeña, who chaired the Senate Committee on Banks in the last Congress, some senators and the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. had lobbied against the inclusion of casinos and real estate companies in the coverage of AMLA in previous Congresses.