9. Amendment of section 7 of the principal enactment

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 7 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows: -

(1)

by the repeal of subsection (1) of that section and the substitution therefor, of the following subsection: -

“(1) Where an Institution—

(a)

suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that any transaction or attempted transaction may be related to the commission of any unlawful activity or any other criminal offence; or

(b)

has information that it suspects, or it has reasonable grounds to believe, may be relevant—

(i)

to an act preparatory to an offence under the provisions of the

Convention on the

Suppression of Terrorist

Financing Act, No. 25 of 2005;

Financial Transactions Reporting

(ii)

to an investigation or prosecution of a person or persons for an act constituting an unlawful activity, or may otherwise be of assistance in the enforcement of the

Prevention of

Money

Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006 and the Convention on the Suppression of

Terrorist Financing Act,

No. 25 of 2005; or

(iii)

to the commission of any act constituting the offence of financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the Institution shall, as soon as practicable, after forming that suspicion or receiving the information, but not later than two working days therefrom, report the transaction or attempted transaction or the information to the Head of the

Financial Intelligence Unit.”;

(2)

in subsection (2) of that section –

(a)

by the repeal of paragraph (a) of that subsection, and the substitution therefor, of the following paragraph: -

“(a) be in writing or by electronic means or by telephone in which case to be followed up in writing within twenty-four hours, or such other manner as may be specified by way of directions issued by the

Head of the Financial Intelligence

Unit in that behalf;”;

(b)

by the repeal of paragraph (b) of that subsection, and the substitution therefor, of the following paragraph: -

“(b) be in such form and contain such details as may be specified by way of directions issued by the Head of the Financial

Intelligence Unit;”; and

(3)

by the repeal of the marginal note to that section and the substitution therefor, of the following marginal note: -

“Duty of Institutions to disclose information to the Financial

Intelligence Unit.”.

Read on from s 10