'Dirty money' accounts to be cleaned up

The Anti Money Laundering Office (AMLO) will discuss a "clean-up day" with commercial banks in order to close accounts considered to have been used for "dirty money" after the Anti-Money Laundering Act becomes effective in January.

Amlo secretary-general Pol Col Seehanart Prayoonrat will ask the Thai Bankers Association to agree to the terms of the "clean-up day" scheme to close accounts suspected to be held by people hired by others to open the accounts.

Banks that fail to cooperate with Amlo may face a fine of up to 500,000 baht per account.

The "clean-up day" plan was initiated to deal with the growing numbers of suspicious bank transactions that can be traced back to local and foreign criminals.

A six-month revision on bank transactions between June and November 2012 revealed 54,109 suspicious bank transactions.

"From a special investigation, the northern region, especially villages along the border of Chiang Mai province, has the highest number of suspicious bank transactions. There are brokers recruiting whole villages to open bank accounts continuously. Investigations also revealed that some large banks in Thailand have 2,000 to 3,000 suspicious bank accounts," Amlo's secretary-general said.

Pol Col Seehanart said in some countries there are different methods of banking such as "digital wallet'' or "e-wallet'' to use personal information to store in mobile phones, making it more difficult to track down money laundering activities.

Therefore, the banks should review their relations with clients, particularly those involved with foreigners and accounts with money being quickly transferred in and out.

He said the public should also be aware of the process of money laundering because the laundered money is used to support illegal activities in Thailand, whether it is money from drugs, human trafficking or smuggled illegal goods, while the people hired by the criminals can be disguised as a regular person.