After disagreements over the concepts of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) and others, MEPs
the National Assembly finally reached a consensus and approved, in the specialty, the draft
of the Law on Preventing and Combating Money Laundering.
The legal instrument, whose title is Prevention and combating money laundering, financing
of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, is therefore compliant and its approval
final should take place on the 20th of this me.
This bill considers all public office holders and their third
generation, which are subject to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),
body that carries out periodic evaluations of national laws.
Djamila de Almeida of the MPLA wondered, for example, why close people are
considered politically exposed, because the concept of family in Angola is broader.
To clarify the situation, the National Director for Justice Policy, José Nascimento, as
representative of the promoter, indicated that the concept of politically exposed persons is included in
the FATF recommendations, which also suggest that States proceed in accordance with their realities
cultural and social.
"The recommendations indicate that states, in this case, legislators can decide based on
their social and cultural reality. Because experience shows that there are open and more closed states. That's
an extension of the legislator," he defended.
But MP João Pinto, also from the MPLA, who opposed the extension of PEP to families, in
General, during the debates on this bill, repudiated the fact that international standards "do not say
let it be so, but advise each state to respect its socio-cultural order", warning that "
we are going too far than the recommendations recommend."
In the same vein, José Nascimento again clarified that the concept of EPP implies
also people who have personal, professional, sexual relationships, outside of
socio-emotional relationships, among others.
Jorge Ribeiro, also a member of the MPLA, said the new law would be welcome to adapt
Angolan judicial procedures to combat money laundering, improve the
system national security and giving new impetus to the national financial system.
In turn, independent representative Leonel Gomes stressed the fact that a solid foundation is on the way< to > creation to adapt the law to international instruments, so that Angola is a participant and
contributor to the scourge that disturbs the world.
On the subject of the EPP, he said it was a "it doesn't matter" because "the law is not harmful to anyone,
less than in practice something else is done outside the law.
The draft law on preventing and combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism and
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will replace Decree 34/11 of 12 December 2010, which
consists of 93 articles, four titles, six chapters and eight sections.