Second Finance Minister Jamaludin Jarjis has urged the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to raise the profile of financing of terrorism and money-laundering issue through practical ways.

He said that ASEM, of which Malaysia is a member, must demonstrate that it could go beyond dialogue in this regard and focus on capacity building.

"ASEM has to work together to improve its ability to detect and target bulk cash movement that facilitate money laundering and terrorist financing," he said when presenting his paper on "Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Money Laundering" at the Fifth ASEM Finance Ministers' Meeting (FMM) in Bali today.

Jamaludin was also quoted by Bernama as saying that ASEM should also cooperate in utilising monitoring cross-border cash laws, and commit to enhancing coordination among them.

Alternative remittances

In this context, he said, much had been said on the utilisation of alternative remittance system as a means to launder money and finance terrorism, due to the implementation of stricter regulations on customer due diligence by financial institutions.

"Thus, the international symposium on "Combating Underground Banking and the Need of Supervising Alternative Remittance Service in European and Asian Countries," which Malaysia would co-host with Germany in October, was a practical effort on the issue, he said.

The symposium, he said, was to find ways to better appreciate the concern on alternative remittances, which more often than not, was conducted to assist migrant workers to remit money back to their countries of origin.

Jamaludin's paper generally outlined progress made by Malaysia in combating the financing of terrorism and money laundering.

He reiterated Malaysia's high priority in the war on terror, saying that the country was working hard to convince its friends that the fight against terrorism needs to also examine the root cause of the menace.

Put in place

According to the minister, anti-money laundering measures in Malaysia had been put in place primarily through the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 or AMLA, where financial institutions as well as certain categories of non-financial institution which were at risk were now covered under the law.

He said Malaysia was cooperating on information sharing with several countries to detect and deter criminal activities in the financial system.

Jamaludin added that Malaysia would be hosting the "Asean Anti-Money Laundering Workshop" at the end of this month as part of the work programme under the "Asean Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime."