Legal Info

Identification duty

The purpose of the law of 11 January 1993 for the prevention of the use of the financial system for money laundering (hereinafter called ‘Money Laundering Law’) is to combat money laundering as well as the financing of terrorism. For this purpose, the Money Laundering Law contains a number of preventive and administratively sanctioned measures and introduces the obligation for auditors, external accountants and external tax consultants among others (hereinafter called ‘the professional’) to report certain transactions and observe a number of administrative obligations. As the members of Alaska eig are professionals, they are held to compliance with a number of administrative obligations and are required to report certain transactions.

Administrative obligations

For each (new) client, the professional must confirm the identity of the client by means of written proof. The professional is required to keep the documents which were used to prove the client’s identity. Moreover, watchfulness must be continuous during the relationship with the client.

Reporting obligation

If, while carrying out his activities, the professional discovers facts of which he knows or suspects that they may be connected to money laundering or the financing of terrorism, he must immediately inform the Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (C.F.I. in its Dutch initials). The existence of a suspicion will not interrupt the service offered, but it does oblige the professional to immediately report this suspicion to the C.F.I. The reporting obligation remains when the facts in question have already been reported to the legal authorities.

Confidentiality

The professional is not allowed to disclose to the client or a third party the fact that the information has been submitted to the C.F.I. or that an investigation is being carried out with regard to money laundering or the financing of terrorism. Non-compliance with the aforementioned obligations may be punished by the disciplinary authorities with an administrative fine for the professional and the publication of the decisions and measures that have been taken.

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