Section 9: Reporting of suspicious transactions

(1) An accountable person shall report to the Authority if it suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction or attempted transaction involves proceeds of crime or funds related or linked to or to be used for money laundering or terrorism financing, regardless of the value of the transaction. (2) An accountable person shall make the report under section (1) without delay but not later than two working days from the date the suspicion was formed. (3) The report under subregulation (1) shall be in the form prescribed by the Minister by regulations and shall be accompanied by any documents directly relevant to that suspicion and the grounds on which it is based. (4) An accountable person, if requested by the Authority, shall give the Authority any relevant information or copies of documents or files, however and wherever stored, inside or outside their buildings, and within the time prescribed by the Authority. (5) Advocates and other independent legal professionals and accountants are not required to report a transaction under this section if the relevant information was obtained in circumstances where they are subject to professional secrecy. (6) An accountable person or its directors and employees shall not disclose to a customer or any other person the fact that a report under this section or related information will be, is being, or has been, submitted to the Authority or that a money laundering or terrorism financing investigation is being or has been carried out. (7) Subsection (4), shall not preclude any disclosure or communication between and among directors and employees of the accountable person, in addition to advocates and competent authorities. (8) Where a supervisory authority or an auditor of an accountable person suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that information in its possession concerning any transaction or attempted transaction may be- (a) related to the commission of any offence under this Act or the offence of terrorism financing; (b) relevant to an act preparatory to the offence of financing of terrorism; (c) an indication of money laundering or the financing of terrorism, the supervisory authority or the auditor shall, as soon as practicable after forming that suspicion or receiving the information, but not later than two working days, report the transaction or attempted transaction to the Authority. [section 9 substituted by section 5 of Act 3 of 2017]