Lately, GRMCT is supporting professionals, such as lawyers, accountants, company formation agents, auditors and other financial intermediaries, who have the ability to either block or facilitate the entry of illegitimate money into the financial system to perform their screening responsibilities successfully. That is GRMCT provides sanctions screening services.
The responsibilities of such gatekeepers include requiring them to identify clients, to conduct due diligence on their clients, to maintain records about their clients and to report “suspicious” client activities.
Some of these rules also prohibit gatekeepers from informing or “tipping off” clients who are the subject of the suspicious transaction reports. Violations may subject gatekeepers to prosecution, fines and even imprisonment. In the European Union and several other countries, mandatory anti money laundering duties already apply to “gatekeepers.” The FATF 40 Recommendations also cover independent legal, including lawyers and legal professionals, and other “gatekeepers.” In its typology report of 2000-2001, FATF says that the following functions provided by lawyers, notaries, accountants and other professionals are the most useful to a potential money launderer:
