House sends Bill back to committee

Members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday rejected the Financial Crimes Bill, describing it as too technical and requiring further scrutiny.

Despite agreeing that the Bill would help deal with money laundering and terrorism issues in Malawi, the MPs said they needed to be drilled in the technicality of the Bill.

Mangochi Monkey Bay MP Ralph Jooma (People’s Party-PP) said the Bill needed to be sent to the relevant parliamentary committee to allow members have enough time to look at it.

“The Bill is important because it not only gives powers of investigations and freezing of [questionable] proceeds to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), but also gives powers to banks and other relevant authorities to confiscate such proceeds, unlike the Money Laundering Act which never gave such powers,” he said.

Dowa West MP Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) said the MPs had been ambushed on the Bill and, therefore, any contribution could jeopardise the proposed law. n