Israel has moved to combat the laundering of money with a new law passed on Wednesday in a late night parliament session ordering banks to report all suspicious transactions and large cash deposits, parliamentary officials announced Thursday.
The bill was presented jointly by the chairman of the legal committee, Amnon Rubinstein of the left wing Meretz party, and Tzippi Livni of the right wing opposition Likud.
The new law targets organized crime, in particular prostitution and drugs trafficking, by obliging financial institutions to report suspect transactions to a data bank set up by the justice ministry.
Large cash deposits will also have to be reported, although new immigrants will be exempted to the tune of one million shekels (about 250,000 dollars).
Israel is one of 15 countries picked out as a money-laundering haven by the Paris-based Financial Advisory Task Force (FATF), a group of 26 rich countries representing the world's main financial centers.
Livni told AFP that the bill passed by parliament "provides for the obligatory declaration of funds entering Israel and the creation of a data bank on organized crime to which the police will have access should they need it."
It also defines the various financial crimes and the sanctions they incur, she said.
She expressed optimism that the legislation would satisfy the FATF. It was drawn up in cooperation with the justice ministry, the Bank of Israel, the police and the customs services, she said - OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
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